Optical payment transceiver and system using the same

ABSTRACT

An optical payment transceiver and an optical settlement system using the same uses a personal portable terminal incorporated with an optical transceiver as a card substitute payment unit for settlement. Here, card information is incorporated in a personal portable terminal incorporated with an optical transceiver such as a portable phone or a PDA and the optical transceiver is connected to a card inquiry machine to thereby optically transmit and receive card information. The card inquiry machine recognizes the received card information in the same manner as that of the card reader reading a magnetic card, and transmits the card information to a VAN company server or a card company server, to then request for an approval and settle transactions. The present invention is applied to most fields where financial transactions are performed as in a general commerce, a toll gate fee or tunnel passage fee collection system, a subway or bus fare levying system, a gas station, a department store, a drive-thru ordering system, a vending machine, and a fee payment system of kiosks. Also, the present invention can be applied to an entrance/exit security system requiring personal identification. Thus, the present invention can use a portable terminal as a payment unit without carrying a cash or cards, to thereby provide an effect of performing a safer and more reliable credit transaction.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an optical payment transceiver and anoptical settlement system using the same, and more particularly, to asystem for settling an expense of various transactions through aportable terminal in which payment information is contained in theportable terminal to which an optical payment transceiver is attached.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, cards convenient to use and handy to carry are widely beingused compared with cash. The cards are classified into a credit card, acash card, a direct payment card, an advance payment card, a trafficcard and so on according to a settlement method. For example, cards arefrequently used to settle accounts for purchase of products in generalshops or department stores. Also, cards are used to pay for filling gasin gas stations or having food in restaurants. Recently, cards are beingused for traffic fare in taxis, subways or buses. In addition, cards arebeing used for electronic commerce transactions or automatic transfermachines (ATMs)/CDs. As such, card affiliated stores continue toincrease and card settlement items become diverse. However, cards arenot still sufficiently applied to toll gates, tunnel passage, vendingmachines, and self-service kiosks.

FIG. 1 illustrates a general credit card settlement system, which showsthe case of paying for an article purchased in a shop.

In FIG. 1, a purchaser gives his or her own credit card 11 to a seller.The credit card 11 is a magnetic card in which an inherent number and auser name are engraved. The seller inserts the credit card into amagnetic card reader in a credit card inquiry machine 12, so that creditcard information is recognized via the magnetic card reader. Then, thecredit card inquiry machine 12 transmits the recognized credit cardinformation to a VAN (Value-Added Network) company server 13, to therebysend an approval request. The credit card inquiry machine 12 and the VANcompany server 13 are connected through a dedicated line. The VANcompany server 13 applies for an approval to a corresponding cardcompany server 14 according to the received approval request. The cardcompany server 14 having received the approval application from the VANcompany server 13 confirms whether the corresponding credit card isblack-listed, how is the credit standing of the credit card holder, howis the credit limit of the credit card, and so on, and then transmits anapproval result to the VAN company server 13. The VAN company server 13having received the approval result from the card company server 14notifies the approval result to the credit card inquiry machine 12 inthe store having received the initial approval application. The sellerin the store confirms the approval result and then notifies thepurchaser of the confirmed approval result. In the case that the creditcard proves normal according to the approval result, the seller givesthe purchaser a sales check and then receives a signature from thepurchaser. Accordingly, a settlement of payment using such a credit cardis completed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a credit card settlement system in a generalelectronic commerce, which includes a cyber shopping mall system 23providing products or services, and a customer terminal 22 whichaccesses the shopping mall system 23 via the Internet in order topurchase articles or services. The credit card settlement system alsoincludes a payment gateway company server 24, and a VAN company server25 and a card company server 26, which are involved in payment forproducts such as the articles or services.

In FIG. 2, a customer accesses the cyber shopping mall system 23 with acomputer, that is, the Internet-accessible terminal 22, in order toperform a shopping. If the customer finds out an article desired to bepurchased, he or she transmits a purchase intention to the shopping mallsystem 23. The customer inputs information of the possessed credit card21, that is, the customer name, the card number, the secret number, thevalid date, etc., on a screen provided by the shopping mall system 23.The shopping mall system 23 transmits the card information provided bythe customer to the payment gateway company server 24. The paymentgateway company server 24 requests for an approval for the transmittedcard information to the card company server 26 or the VAN company server25, and then confirms an approval result, and transmits the approvalresult to the shopping mall system 23 where transactions took place. Ifthe shopping mall system 23 is notified that a normal settlementprocessing has been made from the payment gateway company server 24, thearticle purchased by the corresponding customer is delivered to thecustomer to complete the transaction.

Meanwhile, an electronic money is used as a new payment means inaddition to cashes or cards. The electronic money may be classified intoa network-type electronic money, an IC card-type electronic money and apetty sum electronic money using a phone number. The network-typeelectronic money adopts a method of storing a substantial monetary valuein a particular database on a network and transmits a requested value ata needed time on an on-line, which cannot be used on an off-line. The ICcard-type electronic money is represented by a Mondex card as anexample. The petty sum electronic money using a phone number adopts amethod of inputting a phone number such as a portable phone numberinstead of payment information such as credit card information whengoods or services are purchased on the Internet after registration withrespect to corresponding electronic money dealing stores, to therebyallow a phone number inputter to purchase his or her desired goods orservices, and charging the amount summed in a following month bill forphone charges to him or her.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

By the way, the above-described credit card holder should always possessit in order to pay for charges. If the credit card is lost, it may beunduly used. Also, personal credit information of a credit card holdercan be unduly exposed through use of the credit card. Also, in the casethat a credit card is handed over to a seller for inquiry of the creditcard, the credit card may be easily illegally copied. For this reason, adispute between a card holder and a card company is frequently raised.However, all responsibilities are taken to a card holder.

Also, in the case that a credit card is a magnetic card, such a creditcard can be easily read-out by an unauthorized person and damaged by acareless use and treatment. Also, since a valid data of use isdetermined, a new credit card should be re-issued for even a memberhaving a normal credit standing every three or five years, and deliveredagain. Accordingly, a business cost increases. Also, a card is usuallykept in custody in a wallet. Thus, in the case that a card is lost, itis difficult to recognize that the card has been lost until it is timewhen the card is used again or it is found that the wallet has beenlost. Thus, an illegal use may be aggravated due to a theft or loss. Inaddition, since an existing magnetic card can contain only a smallamount of information, it cannot be applied to a variety of applicationfields. Further, since card issuance responsibilities of each card suchas entrance cards, security cards, service cards and so on are diverse,persons who wish to receive diverse services provided from the variouscard issuing authorities should possess a plurality of cards.

Meanwhile, since the number of possessed cards increases and use ofcards is frequently made, loss or theft of cards frequently occurs,which increases a burden to suspend dealings on a credit card. Also, ifa card holder is registered as a poor credit standing due to a unpaidcard dealing amount, it is necessary to suspend such a card dealing. Forsuspending such a card dealing, a card company server keeps black list(B/L) information with respect to poor credit standing cards and checkswhether a card dealing should be suspended if a card dealing approvalrequest is received from a card dealing store. Otherwise, a card readerinstalled in a bus or subway entrance gate downloads B/L information bywire from a card company server, and compares input card informationwith the stored B/L information during using of cards in a bus orsubway, to thereby check whether such a card is black-listed.

However, the above card dealing suspension methods have the difficultythat a massive amount of information should be stored in each cardcompany server or card reader, which causes an operation of systemsdifficult. Further, as an amount of information to be processedincreases, it becomes longer to check a B/L card and thus a reactiontime of the card company server or card reader becomes later, which maycause complaint or dissatisfaction due to inferior services.

To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a card issuance system for enabling a card applicant to use aportable device as a substituted card, in which card information isinput into the portable device such as a wireless communicationsterminal including a cellular phone, a PCS, a portable mobile phone, aPDA, an IMT-2000 device and so on, instead of a magnetic card.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a newsettlement system for optically transmitting and receiving cardinformation for paying for an expense and settling the expense payment.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide asettlement system in which an optical transmitter containing cardinformation is rent and all purchased amount bills can be settled.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a cardinformation reception combining apparatus for use in a credit cardinquiry machine, which receives optically transmitted card informationto thereby perform a successful transaction, in which an existing creditcard inquiry machine is used as it is without purchasing a credit cardinquiry machine attached with an optical receiver receiving opticallytransmitted card information.

It is a still yet another object of the present invention to provide anauthentication system enhancing a reliability with respect to userauthentication in the above settlement system.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portabledevice which has a larger information storage capability to therebyprovide a variety of services which are not limited in payment ofbanking or financing transactions.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide aportable device including information on various cards thereby enhancinguser conveniences in which a user possesses a single portable deviceinstead of a plurality of cards.

It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide anoptical payment transceiver which is manufactured easily to hand,contains payment information, and transmits the stored paymentinformation by infra-red communications upon manipulation of userbuttons, to thereby settle the payment securely.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and other advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent by describing the preferred embodiments thereof inmore detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a general credit card settlement system;

FIG. 2 illustrates a credit card settlement system in a generalelectronic commerce;

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an optical settlement system accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a card issuance system according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart view for explaining a card issuance operation ofthe FIG. 4 system;

FIG. 6 illustrates a card issuance system according to, anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart view for explaining a card issuance operation ofthe FIG. 6 system;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an optical payment unit according tothe present invention;

FIG. 9 shows an external appearance of an optical payment unitfabricated in a portable phone shape;

FIG. 10A is a block diagram showing an optical payment unit fabricatedin a key chain shape;

FIG. 10B shows an external appearance of the FIG. 10A optical paymentunit fabricated in a key chain shape;

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a portable terminal battery packincluding an optical transceiver according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an optical transmission circuitincluded in a battery pack;

FIG. 13A is a front-end bottom view showing a connection state betweenan optical transceiver plug device and a portable phone device;

FIG. 13B is a rear view showing a connection state between an opticaltransceiver plug device and a portable phone device;

FIG. 14 is a detailed configuration view showing an optical transceiverplug device;

FIG. 15A is a block diagram showing an optical receiver incorporatedcredit card inquiry machine according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 15B shows an external appearance of the FIG. 15A optical receiverincorporated credit card inquiry machine;

FIG. 16A is a block diagram showing an optical receiver externallyinstalled credit card inquiry machine according to another embodiment ofthe present invention, in which the optical receiver is connected to thecredit card inquiry machine by cable;

FIG. 17A is a block diagram showing an adapter in a credit card inquirymachine according to still another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17B is a block diagram showing a magnetic interface card of FIG.17A;

FIG. 17C is a connection state between the adapter of FIG. 17A and thecredit card inquiry machine;

FIG. 18A is a block diagram showing an adapter having a card reader in acredit card inquiry machine according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 18B is a connection state between the adapter of FIG. 18A and thecredit card inquiry machine;

FIG. 19A is a block diagram showing a mobile optical relayer accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 19B is a block diagram showing a mobile optical relayer base deviceaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 19C is a connection state of the mobile optical relayer of FIG.19A;

FIG. 19D is a connection state of the mobile optical relayer base deviceof FIG. 19B;

FIGS. 20A through 20D show a clip-type optical relayer, respectively;

FIG. 21 illustrates an adapter-type optical relay base device;

FIG. 22 is a block diagram for explaining a card information encryptionmethod according to the present invention;

FIGS. 23A through 23C show a structure of storing a plurality of kindsof payment information, respectively;

FIG. 24 illustrates a communications procedure between the opticalpayment transceivers;

FIGS. 25 and 26 illustrate a communications protocol applied to asettlement method using an optical payment according to the presentinvention, respectively;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart view for explaining a security enhancement methodin a settlement system using a card information contained portableterminal according to the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a configuration diagram showing a commerce system using anoptical payment transceiver according to the present invention;

FIG. 29 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation with respect toan optical settlement in a general commerce system of FIG. 28;

FIG. 30 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation in the case thatthe settlement system of FIG. 28 is applied to a countercalculation-type restaurant;

FIG. 31 is a conceptual view of a settlement system adopting an opticalpayment using a phone number as an ID (IDentification);

FIG. 32 is a view showing a data flow of a settlement system adopting anoptical payment using a phone number as an ID (IDentification);

FIG. 33 is a configuration view showing a toll gate fee settlementsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 34 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation with respect tosettlement of a toll gate fee of a vehicle which passes an entrance gatein a toll gate;

FIG. 35 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation with respect tosettlement of a toll gate fee of a vehicle which passes an exit gate ina toll gate;

FIG. 36 is a configuration view showing a drive-thru order systemadopting an optical payment settlement system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 37 is a configuration view showing an optical payment settlementsystem in the FIG. 36 system;

FIG. 38 shows a display state with respect to an order details displayboard in the FIG. 36 system;

FIG. 39 is a flowchart view for explaining an order/settlement operationin the FIG. 36 system;

FIG. 40 is a configuration view showing a gas station fee collectionsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 41 is a flowchart view for explaining a settlement operation in theFIG. 40 gas station fee collection system;

FIG. 42 is a configuration view showing a department store settlementsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according tothe-present invention;

FIG. 43 is a configuration view showing an unmanned automatic vendingsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 44 is a detailed block diagram showing the automatic vending systemof FIG. 43;

FIG. 45 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation of settlement ofpayment in the FIG. 43 unmanned automatic vending system;

FIG. 46 is a configuration view showing a kiosk fee payment systemadopting an optical payment settlement system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 47 is a detailed block diagram showing the kiosk fee payment systemof FIG. 46;

FIG. 48 is a flowchart view for explaining a fee payment operation inthe FIG. 46 fee payment system;

FIG. 49A is a block diagram showing an automatic vending system adoptinga mobile collection device using a PDA;

FIG. 49B shows an example of the PDA applied in the FIG. 49A system;

FIG. 50A is a block diagram showing a mobile collection device using amemory pack;

FIG. 50B shows a connection state of the memory pack of FIG. 50A;

FIG. 51A is a block diagram showing an automatic vending system adoptinga power line modem connection device;

FIG. 51B shows connection states of the automatic vendors applied in theFIG. 51A system in a building;

FIG. 52A is a block diagram showing a mobile communications modemincorporated transmission terminal;

FIG. 52B shows an external appearance of the FIG. 52A mobilecommunications modem incorporated transmission terminal;

FIG. 53A is a block diagram showing an automatic vending system adoptinga portable phone connection device;

FIG. 53B shows an example of connection of the portable phone to thevending system;

FIG. 54A is a block diagram showing an Internet accessible device;

FIG. 54B shows an external connection state with respect to a PC;

FIG. 55A is a block diagram showing a dial-up VAN accessible device;

FIG. 55B shows an external connection state of the FIG. 55A dial-up VANaccessible device;

FIG. 56 is a configuration view showing a bus/taxi fare automaticcollection system adopting an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 57 is a detailed block diagram showing a RF terminal for collectingbus fares;

FIG. 58 is a configuration view showing a subway fare automaticcollection system adopting an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 59 is a detailed block diagram showing a RF terminal for collectingsubway fares;

FIG. 60 is a conceptual view showing an optical payment batch processingsettlement system using a phone number as an ID;

FIG. 61 is a configuration view showing an embodiment of an electroniccommerce system adopting an optical payment settlement system accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 62 is a flowchart view for explaining a settlement operation in theFIG. 61 electronic commerce system;

FIG. 63 is a configuration view showing another embodiment of anelectronic commerce system adopting an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 64 is a flowchart view for explaining a settlement operation in theFIG. 63 electronic commerce system;

FIG. 65 is a flowchart view in the case that the FIG. 61 electroniccommerce system is applied in a general store;

FIG. 66 is a diagram for explaining an authentication system accordingto the present invention;

FIGS. 67A and 67B are views for explaining a process of registering userfacial data in a portable terminal initially, respectively;

FIG. 68A is a view for explaining a user authentication process in thefacial data contained portable terminal;

FIG. 68B is a flowchart view for explaining a user authenticationprocess in the facial data contained portable terminal;

FIG. 69 shows a card information change service system provided in anoptical payment settlement system according to the present invention;

FIG. 70 is a flowchart view in the FIG. 69 card information changeservice system provided in an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 71 shows a card dealing suspension system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 72 is a flowchart view for explaining a card B/L registrationmethod in the FIG. 71 system;

FIG. 73 is a flowchart view for explaining a card dealing suspensionmethod in the FIG. 71 system;

FIG. 74 is a configuration view showing a card loss service systemprovided in an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 75 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation in the FIG. 74card loss service system;

FIG. 76 is a configuration view showing a use details wireless transfersystem provided in an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 77 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation in the FIG. 76use details wireless transfer system;

FIG. 78 is a block diagram showing a settlement system using a rentaltype optical payment unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 79 is a flowchart view for explaining a rental process of anoptical transmitter;

FIG. 80 is a flowchart view for explaining a settlement process in theFIG. 78 system;

FIG. 81 is a flowchart view for explaining a return process of anoptical transmitter;

FIG. 82 is a flowchart view for explaining a non-return process of anoptical transmitter;

FIG. 83 is a configuration view showing an entrance/exit security systemusing an optical transceiver according to the present invention;

FIGS. 84 and 85 arc flowchart views for explaining an entrance/exitcontrol process in the FIG. 83 system, respectively;

FIG. 86 is a configuration view showing a real-time value transferableelectronic money system according to the present invention;

FIG. 87 shows configuration of display screens when an electronic moneyis withdrawn in an ATM;

FIG. 88 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation when anelectronic money is withdrawn in an ATM;

FIG. 89 shows configuration of display screens when an electronic moneyis exchanged between portable terminals;

FIG. 90 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation when anelectronic money is exchanged between portable terminals;

FIG. 91 shows configuration of display screens in the case of payment ofan electronic money using a portable terminal; and

FIG. 92 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation in the case ofpayment of an electronic money using a portable terminal.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there isprovided a card issuance method comprising the steps of: (a) receiving acard issuance application; (b) examining an issuance qualification withrespect to the received card issuance application; (c) encrypting cardinformation if the issuance qualification is met; (d) transferring theencrypted card information to an applicant designating portable terminalso as to be stored therein; and (e) if the encrypted card informationhas been completely stored, check a normal operation state and approvethe card information stored portable terminal to be used as a substitutecard.

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is alsoprovided a card issuance system comprising: a card company serverreceiving a card issuance application, examining an issuancequalification encrypting card information if the issuance qualificationis met, and encrypting the card information and transferring theencrypted card information to an applicant designating portableterminal; and said portable terminal receiving and storing thetransmitted card information, and displaying the received cardinformation on a screen in order to inform the card issuance applicantthat the card issuance has been made.

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is alsoprovided an optical payment transmitter for use in an opticaltransceiver apparatus for payment of expenses, the optical paymenttransmitter comprising: a memory storing user card information therein;an optical transceiver for optically transmitting and receiving cardinformation; a button for commanding an optical payment operation; acontroller for optically transmitting card information according to userbutton manipulation so that a settlement is completed; and a displaydisplaying an optical payment operation state, in which the opticalpayment transmitter is fabricated as a compact portable device.

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is alsoprovided an optical payment receiver for use in a credit card inquirymachine for receiving card information transmitted from a portableterminal and performing a settlement operation, the optical paymentreceiver comprising: an optical reception unit for receiving the cardinformation as an optical signal and performing a settlement accordingto the received card information.

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is alsoprovided an optical payment system for paying for fees using an opticalsignal, the optical payment system comprising: a mobile optical relayerfor receiving a card information contained optical signal from a userterminal, temporarily storing corresponding card information, andoutputting the stored card information one time; and an optical relaybase device for receiving the card information from the mobile opticalrelayer and transmitting the received card information to a credit cardinquiry machine.

To accomplish the above object of the present invention, there is alsoprovided an optical settlement system for use in a commerce system, theoptical settlement system comprising: an optical payment transmitter foroptically transmitting card information; an optical payment receiver foroptically receiving the transmitted card information; a credit cardinquiry machine for transferring the received card information andrequesting a transaction approval; and a settlement authority server fornotifying an approval result with respect to the received approvalrequest to the credit card inquiry machine.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention, which includes a card issuancesystem and a card dealing settlement system. The card issuance systemissues a card according to a method of inputting credit card informationto a portable terminal of a card applicant by a data opticaltransmission and reception method in which an optical transceiver isattached in a card issuance terminal of a card company, a method ofinputting card information in a battery pack of a portable terminal, ora method of downloading card information into a portable terminal bywire or wireless network. The card issuance system includes a cardissuance applicant 31, a card company 36 issuing the card, and a relayer37 for transferring the issued card information to a portable terminalpossessed by the applicant 31 using the above-described methods. Ofcourse, the card company 36 can directly perform the role of the relayer37. Between the relayer 37 and the applicant 31 is connected acommunications network 38 of a mobile communications company to whichthe portable terminal has been subscribed, in order to transmit the cardinformation to the portable terminal possessed by the applicant 31 by aradio frequency (RF) transmission and reception method. Between the cardcompany 36 and the relayer 37 is connected a phone network (X.25). Thesettlement system includes the portable terminal 31 for opticallytransmitting and receiving the issued credit standing information, acredit inquiry terminal 33 attached in a card dealing store, forreceiving a transmitted customer credit information signal using anattached optical receiver 32, and a settlement authority 36 such as acard company for performing credit transaction confirmation andtransaction approval. The settlement authority 36 is a bank or cardcompany. A transaction approval request is made via a VAN company 35.The relayer 34 is selectively connected between the credit inquiryterminal 33 of the card dealing subscriber and the VAN company 35.

First, a card issuance system which issues payment information such as acredit card, a payment card, an electronic money, a merchandise couponand so on, which is contained in a personal portable information devicesuch as a portable phone or a PDA, will be described below.

FIG. 4 illustrates a card issuance system according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. The system shown in FIG. 4 includes a cardapplicant 41, and a card company 42 for performing qualificationexamination and identification of an authorized person, to thereby issuea card. A relayer 44 transmits the information of the issued card to thecard applicant's designating portable terminal via a mobilecommunications network. Also, the FIG. 4 system includes a mobilecommunications company 43 which authenticates that the card issuanceapplicant 41 is same as the portable terminal possessor, and a mobilecommunications agency 45 which sells portable terminals and recommendssubscription of the portable terminals. An operation of the cardissuance of the FIG. 4 system having the above structure will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 5.

The card applicant 41 purchases a portable terminal such as a portablephone and a PDA which can be used as an optical payment unit, in themobile communications company agency 45 (step 51). The cars used in thepresent embodiment is a mobile communications terminal having a portablephone or a PDA form incorporated with an optical transceiver which cantransmit and receive card information. The mobile communications companyagency 45 transmits the received card issuance application to the cardcompany 42 via a card recruiter 46. The card company 42 ascertainswhether the card applicant is the same person as that which is filled inthe card issuance application and examines a card issuance qualification(step 52). In the case that the card issuance application proved to besubmitted by a person who lost a card issuance qualification in theresult of examination of step 52, the card issuance application isreturned to the card recruiter 46 or the card applicant 41 or cardissuance is rejected. In the case that the card issuance application hasbeen passed through the card issuance examination, a person in chargeenters the card applicant information filled in the card issuanceapplication in a server in the card company 42, to then let the serverto produce a card number by a card number generation program (step 53).The card company 42 requests a computer server in the mobilecommunications company 43 to ascertain whether a portable terminal inwhich the residence number and card information of the card issuanceapplicant are stored is possessed by the card applicant via a dedicatedline which has been already installed according to the contract (step54). If the residence numbers do not match between the possessor of theportable terminal and the card applicant in the result of ascertainmentof step 54, the card issuance application is returned. If it isascertained that the portable terminal is possessed by the cardapplicant 41, the server in the card company 42 encrypts the credit cardinformation including the generated card number and transmits theencrypted credit card information to the relayer 44 via the dedicatedline together with the portable terminal number (step 55). The relayer44 receives the encrypted card information together with the portableterminal number. The relayer 44 calls the portable terminal having thesame number as the received portable terminal number via the mobilecommunications network and transmits the credit card information at theconnected state where the relayer 44 is connected to the portableterminal (step 56). The portable terminal stores the received creditcard information in a memory region which is not accessible by a user,and displays a message for user confirmation on a screen (step 57). Onthe portable terminal screen, is displayed a message “Dear Mr. Kim,congratulate on your card subscription. Your credit limit is one millionU.S. dollars.” Thus, the user can ascertain his or her own name andcredit limit and so on, and check whether or not error information hasbeen input (step 58). Upon confirmation, the portable terminal returnsto step 56 so that the relayer 44 can re-transmit the card informationin order to perform the operations of steps 56-58 again, if the receivedinformation has not been normally input.

Here, the above card issuance system is called a push system. Accordingto the push system, a portable terminal designated at the time when acard issuance application has been submitted is called if a cardapplicant is a person who meets a card issuance qualification conditionand stores card information transmitted from a card company therein, andthen notifies the card applicant that a card has been issued,irrespective of connection of the card applicant to the card company.However, a card can be also issued at the state where a user gainsaccess to the relayer 44 via the Internet. Briefly, the relayer 44transmits the card issuance notification to the portable terminal via amobile communications network at the state where the card information isreceived from the card company 42. A customer who confirms the cardissuance notification via the portable terminal manipulates the keypadon the portable terminal to gain access to the relayer 44 and wirelessinternet. The relayer 44 transmits a message for requesting a personalidentification data to a customer in a wireless internet connectionstate. The customer who receives the message for requesting the personalidentification data manipulates the keypad on the portable terminal andtransmits the personal identification data to the relayer 44. Therelayer 44 which receives the personal identification data judgeswhether or not the customer to be in connection is an authorized person.If the customer is an authorized person, the relayer 44 transmits thecredit card information to the portable terminal. The portable terminalstores the received credit card information in a memory incorporatedtherein, displays a message “normally received” on a screen, and endsits operations, to enable a user to confirm the normal input. Meanwhile,if the customer is not an authorized person, the relayer 44 make theportable terminal display a message “You are not an authorized person,and card information can not be issued.” on a screen, and end itsoperations. Like this, in the case of the card issuance via theInternet, card issuance is not notified to the card applicant afterissuance of the card but card reception intention is asked and then acard is issued to the card applicant only in the case that the cardapplicant acknowledges the card reception.

Besides, a detachable IC card using methods such as subscriber identitymodule (SIM), universal subscriber identity module (USIM) and useridentity module (UIM) is mounted on the portable terminal, to be usedfor downloading and storing the card information.

In addition, a card applicant can visit a card company and directlyinput card information into a portable terminal. This is called a keypadsystem. A card issuance system using the keypad system is shown in FIG.6.

FIG. 6 illustrates a card issuance system according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. The system shown in FIG. 6 includesa portable terminal 61 in which an optical transceiver 62 is attached,which receives issued card information and functions as an opticalpayment unit. A card issuance terminal 64 in which an opticaltransceiver 63 is attached, inputs the issued card information into theportable terminal 61 possessed by a card applicant. The portableterminal 61 is connected to the card issuance terminal 64 via wire orwirelessly. The FIG. 6 system includes a computer network 65 and a maincomputer 66 of a card-issuance-related banking authority. An operationof the card issuance of the FIG. 6 system having the above configurationwill be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 7.

A card applicant pays a visit to a card issuance company, holding his orher own portable terminal in person, and fills in a card issuanceapplication and submits the same to the company (step 71). A cardissuing person inputs contents filled in the submitted application in acomputer via the card issuance terminal 64 (step 72). The contentsstored in the computer is transmitted to the main computer via thecomputer network 65. Also, the card issuing person identifies whetherthe card applicant is the same person as one whose information has beenfilled in the card issuance application, through an identification cardsuch as a residence card, a passport, and a driving license (step 73).After identification, the card issuing person converts the card issuanceterminal 64 into an input mode (step 74), and then ascertains whetherthe number of the portable terminal 61 being an input object isidentifies with that of the submitted portable terminal (step 75). Inthis case, the portable terminal is identified by asking or calling amobile communications company if the number of the portable terminal 61is identifies with that of the submitted portable terminal. Then, thesubmitted portable terminal 61 is converted into a card input mode (step76). If the card issuance terminal 64 and the portable terminal 61 havebeen converted into the input mode, respectively through steps 74 and76, the optical transceiver 62 attached to the portable terminal 61 andthe optical transceiver 63 attached to the card issuance terminal 64 arepositioned to face each other so that the one can optically transmit andreceive card information to and from the other. Of course, the cardissuance terminal 64 and the portable terminal 61 can be directlyconnected by cable, to thereby transmit and received card information.The card issuing person presses predetermined input buttons on akeyboard of the card issuance terminal 64 to thereby transmit personalcard information, a name, and other information required by a bankingauthority (step 77). Here, the transmitted information is input to themain computer 66 through the computer network 65 as well as the portableterminal 61 and then recorded therein. The portable terminal 61 receivesthe information transmitted from the optical transceiver 63 of the cardissuance terminal 64 via the optical transceiver 62 and records thereceived information therein (step 78). When the card information hasbeen completely input, the optical transceiver 62 is positioned to facethe optical transceiver 63 at a normal operational state confirmationmode of the card issuance terminal 64, and then the predeterminedbuttons are pressed to ascertain an operational state (step 79). If itis confirmed that there is no abnormality, the personal card informationentry is finally approved (step 80).

Other than the optical transmission and reception, the portable terminalcan be connected to the card issuance terminal by cable via an externalcommunications port provided in the portable terminal, so that cardinformation can be stored in the portable terminal. A variety ofinformation can be stored in the portable terminal by means of thepreviously described optical payment device other than the cardinformation. That is, existing ticket- or coupon-fashioned premiuminformation and respective service card information is stored and thentransmitted via an optical transceiver.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an optical payment unit according tothe present invention. The FIG. 8 optical payment unit includes anoptical transmitter 81 for converting an electrical signal into anoptical signal, an optical receiver 82 for converting an optical signalinto an electrical signal and a memory 83 storing various informationincluding input card information. A controller 84 stores the inputinformation and controls respective elements so that the storedinformation can be used as payment information. The optical transmitter81 is connected to a modulator 85 for modulating a signal to betransmitted and the optical receiver 82 is connected to a demodulator 86for demodulating a received signal. Interfacers 87 and 88 perform aninterfacing operation between the modulator 85 and the controller 84,and between the demodulator 86 and the controller 84, respectively.

The optical payment unit according to the present invention is notlimited to a portable terminal being a mobile communications terminal inwhich an optical transceiver is attached, and is applied to a key-chain,a watch, an electronic notebook, a PDA, and so on, which enablesfabrication of a variety of mobile units (MUs) which can be selectivelyused according to users' needs.

FIG. 9 shows an external appearance of an optical payment unitfabricated in a portable phone shape. An optical transceiver 121 foroptically transmitting and receiving card information is attached to theportable phone shown in FIG. 9. Also, buttons for commanding opticaltransmission operations of the card information are provided on a keypad124 additionally. Of course, existing keys on the keypad can be used. Abutton 122 for commanding an optical transmission operation of a trafficcard function is provided in a proper position of the portable phone, inthe case of a portable phone shaped optical payment unit. An opticalpayment operation is displayed on a liquid crystal display (LCD) 123.Also, a signature tag 125 for showing a card membership signature isattached to a proper position at which the portion is not easily wornduring use of the portable phone, which can satisfy a signatureconfirmation request as in the case of using a magnetic card.

FIG. 10A is a block diagram showing an optical payment unit fabricatedin a key chain shape, and FIG. 10B shows an external appearance of theFIG. 10A optical payment unit fabricated in a key chain shape. The keychain internal configuration shown in FIG. 10A includes an infraredreceiver 91A for receiving credit card information of an infrared signaland converting the infrared signal into an electrical signal and aninfrared decoder 92A for altering the converted electrical signal into aUART standard signal. A UART portion 93 transforms a UART standardserial electrical signal into an 8-bit parallel signal. Also, the keychain shaped optical payment unit includes a memory 95 storing thereceived credit card information, a petty money button 96 and a creditbutton 97 both for commanding an optical transmission payment operation.A display 98 is formed of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and displays anoperational state. Meanwhile, the key chain optical payment unitincludes a CPU 94 for transferring credit information of infraredsignals according to a user's button manipulation and performing acontrol operation to be settled, an infrared encoder 92B for altering aUART standard electrical signal into an infrared standard signal, and aninfrared light emitting portion 91B for converting and transmitting anelectrical signal into an infrared signal. The key chain shaped opticalpayment unit 90 having the above configuration is fabricated into acompact key ring to be conveniently hand-held as shown in FIG. 10B.Here, a ring 99 is provided to be conveniently combined with other keys.

When a user presses the petty cash button 96 for credit dealing or thecredit button 97 for petty money dealing, the CPU 94 receiving buttoninputs reads credit card information from the memory 95 in which paymentinformation is stored. The UART portion 93 converts the credit cardinformation read via the CPU 94 into a serial patterned UART standardsignal and transmits the converted result to the infrared encoder 92B.The infrared encoder 92B converts the UART standard serial signal intothe infrared standard signal, and transmits the converted result via theinfrared light emitting portion 91B. The infrared credit cardinformation is transmitted to a credit card inquiry terminal, that is abase unit (BU) in which an optical transceiver is attached, so as to besettled. Usually, if credit information is normally received, the baseunit responds to the received credit information in an infrared signal.The infrared signal is received in the infrared receiver 91A of theoptical payment unit 90 and converted into an electrical signal. Theinfrared decoder 92A changes the converted electrical signal to the UARTstandard signal. The UART portion 93 converts the UART standard signalinto the 8-bit unit parallel signal and transmits the converted resultto the CPU 94. The CPU 94 performs a communications operation accordingto a protocol determined by an internal program and controls the display98 to display the communications success or failure thereon.

Here, additional buttons for performing credit dealing and petty moneydealing are provided, so that a respectively different operation isperformed during a petty money dealing and a large sum dealing. First,in the case of a petty settlement such as a traffic fare, a secret inputis not needed. Thus, a simple settlement can be performed with only onetouch of the petty money button 96. However, in the case of a large sumsettlement, a settlement is usually performed by confirmation of asecret number. Thus, in the case that the credit button 97 is pressed, acredit card inquiry machine (not shown) at a reception end requests asecret number, and then a user inputs a secret number using a keypad atthe reception end in which a personal identification number (PIN) inputkeypad is provided, to thereby perform a business transaction.

In the case that a secret number input means such as a keypad isinstalled for a large sum settlement which requires a secret numberinput, a production cost increases and a volume of the device isenlarged. Thus, the present invention incorporates a tone recognitionmodule of a portable phone keypad in the above-described optical paymentunit, so that a secret number can be input using the portable phonekeypad. That is, in the case of a large sum settlement, the tonerecognition module is positioned to be close to the speaker of theportable phone. In this state, a secret number is pressed using theportable phone keypad. Then, the portable phone speaker outputs a dialtone signal corresponding to the corresponding number of the pressedbuttons. Then, the tone recognition module receives a tone signalcorresponding to the corresponding secret number and recognizes thesecret number from the received tone signal. If the large sum settlementbutton is pressed in this state, the CPU 94 transmits the secret numberrecognized in the tone recognition module externally. Here, since thetransmitted secret number is not stored in the optical payment unit butoutput externally, there is no concern about an exposure of the secretnumber even in the case of loss or theft of the optical payment unit.

Portable phones possessed by most people can be used as theabove-described optical payment unit. In this case, it is preferablethat an optical transmission circuit is integrated and incorporated intoa portable phone circuit. However, it takes much time and requires muchcost to design and fabricate a new portable phone incorporated with theoptical transmission circuit. Thus, an optical transmitter isincorporated into a battery of the portable terminal such as theportable phone, so that a currently available portable terminal is usedas it is while performing the function of an optical payment settlementsystem.

FIG. 11 illustrates an external appearance of a portable terminalbattery pack including an optical transceiver according to the presentinvention.

A portable terminal 100 is a terminal which is carried and movable by auser, including a portable phone, a wireless Internet communicationsterminal and a PDA. A pack-type battery 101 includes a rechargeablebattery 105 for supplying power to the portable terminal 100, a chargingcircuit and charging taps 107. Also, the battery 101 includes an opticaltransmitter for enabling an optical payment credit dealing as in acredit card. The optical transmitter is incorporated into the battery101, which includes the optical transmission circuit 102 for generatingan optical signal, a light emitting element 103 for emitting an opticalsignal from the optical transmission circuit 102 externally, and asettlement switch 104 for approving a settlement of the optical paymentaccording to the emitted optical signal.

The optical transmission circuit 102 is incorporated using an internalclearance space in the battery pack 101. The light emitting element 103is attached near the charging taps 107. Of course, the light emittingelement 103 can be attached in a proper place of the battery pack 101 soas to perform an optical transmission easily. In the case that the lightemitting element 103 is attached in the periphery of the charging taps107 as in this embodiment, the light emitting element 103 should beattached so that it is not protruded from an external surface of thebattery pack 101. Also, the settlement switch 104 is attachedunprotrudingly on the rear surface of the battery pack 101 in order toprevent an unwanted settlement optical signal from be emitted due to anexternal contact.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an optical transmission circuitincluded in a battery pack 101.

A power circuit 111 is a circuit for supplying power to an opticaltransmission unit, in which power is obtained from a rechargeablebattery in the battery pack. The memory 113 stores user credit dealinginformation and an optical transmitter 114 converts credit dealinginformation into an optical signal so as to be externally emitted. Acontroller 112 transmits information from the memory 113 to the opticaltransmitter 114, and controls the operation of a circuit 112.

If a user presses a settlement switch 104 attached in the battery pack101, the power circuit 111 supplies power to the whole parts of theoptical transmission circuit 102. Then, the controller 112 readsinformation from the memory 113 and transmits the read information tothe optical transmitter 114. The optical transmitter 114 converts thereceived information into an optical signal such as an infrared signal.That is, received digital information is converted into an opticalsignal using a light intensity. In the case that a longer transmissiondistance is needed, a communications distance can be increased using anadditional modulation/demodulation unit. The converted optical signal isemitted via the light emitting element 103 externally. Here, an IC chipsuch as an IC card can be used as the memory 113. The IC chip has asingle unique recognition number, to thereby prevent personalinformation from being leaked due to an illegal reproduction of the ICchip.

As another embodiment, the optical transmission circuit 102 can beincorporated in the portable terminal 100 not in the battery pack 101.In this case, a connection means is needed for connecting the opticaltransmission circuit 102 incorporated in the portable terminal 100 tothe light emitting element 103 and the settlement switch both of whichare attached in the battery pack 101. Such a connection means is formedby using a power supply terminal for supplying power to the portableterminal 100 or an additional terminal.

FIG. 13A is a front-end bottom view showing a connection state betweenan optical transceiver plug device and a portable phone device, and FIG.13B is a rear view showing a connection state between an opticaltransceiver plug device and a portable phone device. FIG. 14 is adetailed configuration view showing an optical transceiver plug device.

As shown in FIG. 14, the optical transceiver plug device includes acircuit 131 provided in a case 130 and an optical transceiver 132 foroptically transmitting and receiving data. A connection cable 133 isformed on one side of the circuit 131 to connect with a plug 134. Theplug 134 is connected to an external communications port provided on thebottom of the portable phone as shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B. Also, theoptical transceiver plug device includes optical transmission andreception windows 135 formed on one surface of the case 130, to therebyform an entrance and exit portion of an optical signal transmitted toand received from the optical transceiver 132. As shown in FIG. 13B, theoptical transceiver plug device is connected so that the opticaltransmission and reception windows 135 face the rear surface of theportable phone. Thus, the user connects the plug device with theportable phone without changing a basic design and structure of theportable phone, and then performs an optical transmission and receptionfunction conveniently at the state where the user opposes the portablephone.

A conventional credit card inquiry machine adopts a method of receivingcredit information via a magnetic card or a contact-type IC card andprocessing the same. For this reason, the conventional credit cardinquiry machine cannot receive an infrared credit informationtransmitted from the optical payment unit according to the presentinvention. Thus, an optical receiver is incorporated in the credit cardinquiry machine so that the infrared credit information can be directlyreceived in the credit card inquiry machine. The optical receiver willbe described with reference to FIGS. 15A and 15B.

FIG. 15A is a block diagram showing an optical receiver incorporatedcredit card inquiry machine according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, and FIG. 15B shows an external appearance of the FIG. 15Aoptical receiver incorporated credit card inquiry machine.

The credit card inquiry machine 140 shown in FIG. 15A includes aninfrared receiver 141A for converting an infrared signal into anelectrical signal and a decoder 142A for converting the electricalsignal into a UART standard signal according to a conversion of theinfrared signal. A UART portion 143 transforms an input serialelectrical signal into an 8-bit parallel signal, to then transfer theresultant signal to a CPU 144. The CPU 144 controls the entireoperation. Also, the credit card inquiry machine 140 includes an encoder142B for altering a UART standard electrical signal into an infraredsignal, and an infrared light emitting portion 141B for transmitting theinfrared signal. A keypad 145 receives a user key input and thentransmits the same to the CPU 144. A display 146 is formed of lightemitting diodes (LEDs) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) and displays anoperational state. Meanwhile, the optical receiver incorporated creditcard inquiry machine 140 has an external appearance as shown in FIG.15B.

The optical receiver incorporated credit card inquiry 140 performs thesame operation as a settlement procedure using a magnetic card even inthe case of the optical payment settlement. First, if a customerexpresses a credit dealing intention using an optical payment unit (notshown), a credit dealing mode is input using a predetermined functionkey on a keypad 145. A CPU 144 having received key inputs requests acard input via a display 146. Usually, a card inserted according to thecard input request is read by a card reader 147, so that cardinformation stored in the magnetic portion of the card is input. Here,in the case that a customer indicates a credit dealing intention usingthe optical payment unit, a credit dealing button (FIG. 10A) in theoptical payment unit is pressed so that card information is transmittedin the form of an infrared ray. The infrared receiver 141 incorporatedin the credit card inquiry machine 140 detects the infrared cardinformation and converts the detected result into an electrical signalto be transmitted to an infrared decoder 142A. The infrared decoder 142Adecodes the card information into a UART standard signal to betransmitted to a UART portion 143. The UART portion 143 converts thereceived UART standard card information signal into an 8-bit parallelsignal to be transmitted to the CPU 144. Accordingly, the CPU 144receives the card information and let a settlement to be completed.Several services which had been impossible in the past can be possible.That is, existing available service purposed coupon can be transmittedto an optical payment unit in an electronic pattern, to thereby providea new service.

The above-described optical receiver incorporation type requires thatadditional space and an interface unit in the credit card inquirymachine be provided. Thus, such an optical receiver incorporation typeis not easy to be applied to credit card inquiry machines which havebeen fabricated or available on market. An optical receiver externallyinstalled credit card inquiry machine is shown in FIG. 16A, in which anoptical receiver is connected to an external communications port in acredit card inquiry machine so as to receive credit information which istransmitted in the form of an optical signal.

FIG. 16A is a block diagram showing an optical receiver externallyinstalled credit card inquiry machine according to another embodiment ofthe present invention, in which the optical receiver is connected to thecredit card inquiry machine by cable. An externally installed opticalreceiver 150 shown in FIG. 16A receives optically transmitted creditinformation, converts the received credit information into a signal ofthe form which can be recognized in a credit card inquiry machine 155,and transmits the converted result to the credit card inquiry machine155. Here, the externally installed optical receiver 150 is connected tothe credit card inquiry machine 155 by cable. The operation for anoptical payment settlement in FIG. 16A is same as that of the opticalreceiver incorporated credit card inquiry 140 shown in FIGS. 15A and15B.

However, even in the case of the externally installed optical receiver,a program stored in the credit card inquiry machine should be modified.Thus, considering that respective existing credit card inquiry machinesare provided with a card reader slot having an identical magnitude, anadapter which can be fitted into the slot is fabricated, which is shownin FIGS. 17A, 17B and 17C.

FIG. 17A is a block diagram showing an adapter in a credit card inquirymachine according to still another embodiment of the present invention,FIG. 17B is a block diagram showing a magnetic interface card of FIG.17A, and FIG. 17C is a connection state between the adapter of FIG. 17Aand the credit card inquiry machine.

An adapter 160 shown in FIG. 17A includes an infrared receiver 161A andan infrared emitter 161B for receiving and transmitting an infraredsignal, respectively. An infrared decoder 162A connected to the infraredreceiver 161A decodes the received card information into a UART standardsignal. An infrared encoder 162B connected to the infrared emitter 161Bencodes a UART standard signal into an infrared signal. The adapter 160of FIG. 17A also includes a UART portion 163 for converting a decodedUART standard signal into an 8-bit parallel signal or converting aparallel signal transmitted from a controller 164 into a serialpatterned signal, and the controller 164 for applying a pulse signal inorder to alter an electrical signal concerning card information into anelectromagnetic signal of an ISO-7811 type by a transform algorithmprepared in a transfer mode. A driver 165 connected to the controller164 adjusts an impedance voltage according to a pulse signal appliedfrom the controller 164. The impedance voltage controlled alternatingcurrent signal is applied to a coil incorporated in a magnetic interfacecard 166, to thereby generate change of a magnetic flux. The magneticinterface card 166 is formed so that coil is wound at a predeterminedposition of an iron core as shown in FIG. 17B. The generated magneticflux change brings out a swapping effect as if a magnetic card isswapped in a card reader 147. Accordingly, the card reader 147 in thecredit card inquiry machine 155 acquires credit information by a creditcard reading procedure and then transmits the read credit informationvia a VAN network 157. The adapter having the above configuration isused as shown in FIG. 17C, in which the magnetic interface card 166 andthe adapter 160 are connected each other by cable 167, at the statewhere the magnetic interface card 166 is inserted into the card reader147 of the credit card inquiry machine 155.

However, in the case of the above-described adapter, a magneticinterface card should be inserted and taken out every time when asettlement is made by an optical payment unit and a magnetic card. Thus,an adapter which can be settled by a magnetic card without taking out amagnetic interface card is shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B.

FIG. 18A is a block diagram showing an adapter having a card reader in acredit card inquiry machine according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention, and FIG. 18B is a connection state between theadapter of FIG. 18A and the credit card inquiry machine. Theconfiguration of an adapter 170 shown in FIG. 18A is same as that of theadapter 160 shown in FIG. 17A. The adapter 170 of FIG. 18A furtherincludes a card reader 173 for reading a magnetic card which isconnected to a UART portion 174. In the case of using the adapter 170having the above configuration, two kinds of settlement using an opticalpayment unit or a magnetic card can be processed at the state where amagnetic interface card 177 has been inserted into the card reader 147.

First, if a customer expresses a credit dealing intention using anoptical payment unit, a credit dealing mode is input using apredetermined function key on a credit card inquiry machine 155. Thecredit card inquiry machine 155 requests a card input via a display 146.The customer presses a predetermined credit dealing button in a portableterminal such as a portable phone or PDA possessed as the opticalpayment unit so that credit information is transmitted in the form of aninfrared ray. The adapter 170 connected to the magnetic interface card177 inserted into the card reader 147 of the credit card inquiry machine155 by cable receives credit information via the infrared receiver 171A.

Meanwhile, if a customer expresses a credit dealing intention using amagnetic card, a credit dealing mode is input using a predeterminedfunction key on a credit card inquiry machine 155. The credit cardinquiry machine 155 requests a card input via a display 146. Thecustomer inputs card information stored in a magnetic portion of thecard via the card reader 173 attached to the adapter 170. The cardinformation input via the card reader 173 is converted into an 8-bitparallel signal via the UART portion 174 and transmitted to the CPU 175.The CPU 175 applies an alternating current signal to an I/F converter176 in order to alter the card information transmitted from the UARTportion 174 into an electromagnetic change of the ISO-7811 type. The I/Fconverter 176 converts the applied alternating current signal into animpedance voltage appropriate for the magnetic interface card 177inserted into the slot of the credit card inquiry machine 155 andtransmits the altered impedance voltage. The magnetic interface card 177generates a flux change in an iron core when the alternating currentsignal transmitted via the I/F converter 176 has been applied to thecoil. The generated flux change brings out an effect like a swappingeffect of a magnetic card. Of course, the card information read throughthe card reader 173 attached to the adapter 170 can be transmitted tothe credit card inquiry machine 155 directly.

Meanwhile, the above-described optical payment unit can settle using aninfrared communication only in the case that a card inquiry machine ispositioned close to a customer. That is, the current infraredcommunication distance is limited to one meter or so. This makessettlement using the optical payment unit inconvenient at gas stations,department stores where card inquiry machines are installed in severallimited places, and restaurants having several compartments. Thus, amobile relayer is shown in FIGS. 19A through 19D, in which user creditinformation is received at a current position of a user, the creditinformation is temporarily stored and then the stored credit informationis used only one-time for a settlement.

FIG. 19A is a block diagram showing a mobile optical relayer accordingto the present invention. FIG. 19B is a block diagram showing a mobileoptical relayer base device according to the present invention. FIG. 19Cis a connection state of the mobile optical relayer of FIG. 19A. FIG.19D is a connection state of the mobile optical relayer base device ofFIG. 19B. A mobile optical relayer 180 is movable, which receives usercredit information in an optical signal from a user terminal, stores thesame temporarily, and transmits the stored credit information to anoptical relayer base unit 190 or an optical receiver attached creditcard inquiry machine only one time.

The optical relayer base unit 190 is connected to a credit card inquirymachine by cable or through an adapter, which receives creditinformation the mobile optical relayer 180 and transmits the receivedcredit information to the card inquiry machine 155 in order to inquirethe creditability of the user. Here, the optical relayer base unit 190user (customer) credit information via an optical signal transmittedfrom the mobile optical relayer 180, or receives user credit informationfrom the mobile optical relayer 180 at the state where the opticallyrelayer base unit 190 is connected to the mobile optical relayer 180 viaa connector.

In the mobile optical relayer 180, an infrared receiver 181A receivescredit information in the form of an infrared signal from a portableterminal and converts the same into an electrical signal. A CPU 184temporarily stores the received credit information in a memory 185, andcontrols a LED 186 to operate and indicate that the credit informationhas been normally received. After recognizing the display of the LED186, the optical relayer 180 is positioned on the optical relayer baseunit 190 connected to the credit card inquiry machine 155 and then adata transfer button 187 is pressed. Here, the optical relayer 180 isconnected to the optical relayer base unit 190 as shown in FIG. 19C, orconnected thereto in the form of an infrared signal as shown in FIG.19D. In the case of the connector connection of FIG. 19C, the CPU 184 inthe optical relayer 180 transmits the credit information stored in thememory 185 to the optical relayer base unit 190 via a transfer port 188.In the case of the infrared signal connection as shown in FIG. 19D, theCPU 184 in the optical relayer 180 converts the credit informationstored in the memory 185 into an infrared signal via the infraredemitter 181B, and transmits the converted result to the optical relayerbase unit 190. The CPU 184 receives credit information and then deletescorresponding credit information from the memory 185.

In the optical relayer base unit 190, a reception port 194 is connectedto the transfer port 188 of the optical relayer 180, receives creditinformation transmitted in the form of a UART standard signal andoutputs the received credit information to a CPU 195. An infraredreceiver 191A receives credit information in the form of an infraredsignal transmitted from the infrared emitter 181B of the optical relayer180 and converts the received credit information into an electricalsignal. The CPU 195 transmits the credit information received via thereception port 194 or the infrared receiver 191A to the credit cardinquiry machine 155 connected by cable.

Also, the above-described optical relayer 180 can be fabricated so as tobe easily used at a circumstance where a clip is attached to the opticalrelayer, so that a slip is presented in a distance from a counter as ina restaurant, in order to make a settlement, as shown in FIGS. 20Athrough 20D. Referring to FIG. 20A, a slip fitted on a settlement binderusing a clip 196 of the optical relayer 180 is presented to a customer.Accordingly, the customer can check a calculated amount at a sittingtable and optically pay for the expenses. FIG. 20B shows a lateral shapeof a clip-type optical relayer. The clip-type optical relayer isattached to a charging unit at ordinary times and prepared on a counter.As shown in FIG. 20C, the charging unit 197 is fabricated in the formthat a clip-type optical relayer is easily mounted, and a batteryaccommodated in the optical relayer 180 is charged via chargingconnection portions 198, which can be always used. FIG. 20D shows alateral shape of a clip-type optical relayer which is mounted in acharging unit.

The optical relayer base unit 190 can be fabricated in an adapter formso as to be connected to an existing credit card inquiry machine withoutany change of functions and external appearance thereof like anadapter-type credit card inquiry machine as shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B.This adapter-type optical relay base device is shown in FIG. 21.Referring to FIG. 21, an I/F card 201 is inserted into a slot of acredit card inquiry machine 200. An optical payment unit according tothe present invention transmits card information in an infrared signal,in which the card information needs to be encrypted for card security.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram for explaining a card information encryptionmethod according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 22, a card number is formed of a set of an actual cardnumber and an authentication number assigned by a card company. Thethus-formed card number has 40 bytes approximately. A relayer 210receives the card number and executes a compression algorithm set in acompressor 211 to compress the card number information. Here, thecompressor 211 uses a compression table 212 and converts the receivedcard information into card information which can be stored in a portableterminal 215. The compressed card information is about 20 bytes. Thethus-converted card information makes a pair together with a card IDassigned from a card ID assignor 213, so as to be transmitted to theportable terminal 215. Here, the card ID is information fordiscriminating the kind of a card with the corresponding cardinformation.

The portable terminal 215 receives card information including a card IDfrom the relayer 210. A storage index portion 216 in the portableterminal 215 registers the card ID included in the transmitted cardinformation as an index and stores the card information in a memory 217.The storage index portion 216 also stores a card name corresponding tothe card information stored in the memory 217 in a screen display memory218, in order to make a user confirm the kind of the card selected byhim or her. Thus, when a user selects a card, the corresponding cardname stored in the screen display memory 218 is displayed on a screen sothat the user can ascertain the selected card. Here, the storage indexportion 216 has an index memory as shown in FIG. 23A. The index memorycomprises a total length {circle around (1)} of stored indexes, IDs{circle around (2)} of the card information selected by a user amongvarious kinds of card information, and index information {circle around(3)} representing positions where the card information is actuallystored. As shown in FIG. 23 b, a card ID {circle around (1)} foridentifying a kind of the payment information is paired with actual cardinformation {circle around (2)} corresponding to the card ID and aplurality of the pair are stored in the card information in a memory217. As shown in FIG. 23 c, a card ID {circle around (1)} foridentifying the payment information and a letter or a logo data {circlearound (2)} for displaying an actual kind of the card are stored in thescreen display memory 218. The screen logo may be a logo of a cardcompany or its partner. A card ID which is stored in the memory 217 andthe screen display memory 218, respectively, has a same value.

The process for transmitting and receiving the card information, in astate that the card information is encoded and stored in the portableterminal 215 as above, is described.

FIG. 24 illustrates a communications procedure between the opticalpayment transceivers.

In FIG. 24, if an optical payment settlement is selected by a user, anoptical payment receiver illustrated as a base unit (BA) 235 requests acorresponding optical payment transmitter illustrated as a mobile unit(MU) 230 to send a signal. The MU 230 transmits index data stored in anindex memory in response to a signal request from the BU 235. Here, theindex data is an address for pointing a storage location of the cardinformation stored in the card information memory 217. The BU 235receives the index data, compares the received index data with aprestored index analysis table, and creates an encryption key in thereceived index data proved a significant index. The BU 235 sends thecreated encryption key to the MU 230 together with a memory accesscommand. The MU 230 extracts an encryption key from the encryption keysignal, reads the card information stored in the card information memory217, and encrypts the read card information with the extractedencryption key again. The thus-encrypted card information is transmittedto the BU 235. The BU 235 decodes the received card information with apossessed encryption key, and then restores the decoded card informationinto card information according to a predetermined compression table.

An infrared data transmission method is a protocol for a one-to-Ntransmission, in which a recognition protocol is complicated betweencommunicating stations and thus it takes 2-3 seconds only in the casethat a mutual recognition is performed between the communicatingstations only with a basic protocol link hierarchy, which causes a timedelay. The one-to-N transmission protocol cannot be applied to a feepayment field where an information transfer time is of importancebecause of the above time delay. Thus, a new communications protocol ispresented for a one-to-one communication.

FIGS. 25 and 26 illustrate a communications protocol applied to asettlement method using an optical payment according to the presentinvention, respectively. The BU 235 emits a pilot signal for findingwhether there is any counterpart station which is in a communicatingstate within a communications distance ({circle around (1)}). The pilotsignal includes an ECC (Error Correcting Code) (for example, a BCC(Block Check Character)) value for guaranteeing a faultlessness ofcommunicating data, and its own ID (BU-ID) value for guaranteeing aone-to-one communication. Meanwhile, the BU 230 checks if there is abutton input (step 251). If there is a button input, the MU 230ascertains whether a pilot signal is received from the BU235 and anerror is generated (step 252). The MU 230 having received the pilotsignal ascertains whether a pilot signal is received within apredetermined reception standby time after having received a buttoninput and the received pilot signal is transmitted without having anydeformation, from the ECC value included in the received data. If isascertained that the pilot signal has been received within apredetermined time without having any error, the ID value (BU-ID) of theBU 235 included in the received data is extracted in order to guaranteethe faultlessness of the whole forthcoming communications, and its ownID value (MU-ID) is created and stored (step 253). The MU 230 calculatesan index value for pointing a value indicating its owncommunication-ready state and a stored card information value, an IDvalue (MU-ID) indicating its own body, an ID value (BU-ID) of the BU 235having sent a communications request, and the ECC value for guaranteeinga faultlessness of the whole data to be transmitted ({circle around(2)}) (step 254). The BU 235 having received the ECC value ascertainswhether the received communication standby signal indicated as thenumber {circle around (2)} has been transmitted without any deformation,from the received ECC value included in the received data. The BU 235ascertains whether there is a response with respect to his or herrequest communications with its own ID value (BU-ID) included in thereceived data. If all match, the BU 235 keeps in custody the ID value(MU-ID) of the MU 230 included in the communication standby signal inorder to guarantee the faultlessness of the whole communications. The BU235 decrypts the index value for pointing a credit information valueincluded in the received communications standby signal shown in {circlearound (2)} of FIG. 25, by using a predetermined index table and thenextracts a value for pointing necessary credit information. The BU 235creates an encryption key to be used during communications and transmitsit together with the ID value (MU-ID) of the MU 230 ({circle around(3)}). The MU 230 having received the encryption key ascertains whetherthe received encryption key and command signal has been transmittedwithout any deformation, from the received ECC value included in thereceived data (step 255). If ascertained, the MU 230 ascertains whetherthere is a response with respect to his or her request communicationswith the MU-ID value included in the received data (step 256). If theMU-ID value is not equal to the ID of the MU 230, the MU 230 stands by areception for a predetermined tome (step 257). If a matching MU-ID valueis not received even though a reception standby time elapses for apredetermined time, the MU 230 returns to step 251 to perform the steps251-257 again. If all match, the BU 235 keeps in custody the ID value(MU-ID) of the MU 230 included in the communication standby signal inorder to guarantee the faultlessness of the whole communications. The BU235 decrypts the index value for pointing a credit information valueincluded in the received communications standby signal shown in {circlearound (2)} of FIG. 25, by using a predetermined index table and thenextracts a value for pointing necessary credit information. If thereceived MU-ID value is equal to the ID of the MU 230, the MU 230 readsdata from a storage device according to the re-transmitted command, andthen encrypts the read data with an encryption key (step 258). Theencrypted data is transmitted to the BU 235 ({circle around (4)}) (step259). The BU 235 having received the encrypted data ascertains whetherthe received encrypted data has been transmitted without anydeformation, from the ECC value included in the received data. The BU235 ascertains whether there is a response with respect to his or herrequest communications with its own ID value (BU-ID) included in thereceived data. If all match, the BU 235 transmits corresponding data toa post-end processor and completes communications. If data to be updatedexists, the BU 235 sends the updating data signal to the MU 230 togetherwith a storage command ({circle around (5)}). Here, the updating datacorresponds to departure information of a fee payment system for asubway or a toll gate. The MU 230 ascertains whether the receivedupdating data and command signal has been transmitted without anydeformation, from the received ECC value included in the data (step260). The MU 230 ascertains whether there is a response with respect tohis or her request communications with its own ID value included in thereceived data (step 261). If it ascertained that his or her own ID valuedoes not exist in the received data, the MU 230 stands by a receptionfor a predetermined time (step 262). If a matching MU-ID value is notreceived even though a predetermined time elapses, the MU 230 returns tostep 251, to perform steps 251-262. If it is ascertained that his or herown ID value exists in the received data, the MU 230 stores thecorresponding updating data and transmits an acknowledge signal (ACK)with respect to the corresponding updating data ({circle around (6)})(step 263). Then, the MU 230 awaits about three seconds (step 264) andcompletes the program. Through these procedures, the communicationscomplete.

As described above, card information is stored in a portable terminal inplace of a magnetic-type card such as a credit card, a prepaid card, anda banking card. In this case, if card information is stored in aportable terminal without any modification, there may be a concern aboutan illegal reproduction of the card. In particular, in the case thatcard information is directly input in a memory of a portable terminal, aperson who developed a portable terminal may illegally reproduce aportable terminal memory using specific equipment. Thus, card issuingauthorities such as card companies or banks wish to avoid that cardinformation is stored in a portable terminal in the same form as thatstored in a magnetic card. However, an encryption system using apersonal asymmetric key requires long calculation time in bankingtransactions performed by a plurality of unspecific people, which makescustomers more inconvenienced compared to a current system. Also, sincesymmetric keys input in a number of POS terminals are same in the casethat a symmetric key is used, key protection may be so much difficult.

Considering the above, a new IC card system has been developed, which isnot however widely spread due to an infrastructure setup cost. Thus, thepresent invention uses a current system as it is and uses a userdesignating secret number as an encryption algorithm key in order toincrease a security, which will be described in detail with reference toFIG. 27.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart view for explaining a security enhancement methodin a settlement system using a card information contained portableterminal according to the present invention.

A customer fills in an application in order to use his or her ownportable terminal as a card, and applies it to a corresponding bankingauthority. In this case, a secret number of the card is additionallyfilled in the application (step 241). The banking authority examines theapplication and then after the application has been accepted, cardinformation such as a card number and a valid period is encrypted usinga secret number requested by the customer as an encryption key (step242). An encryption method uses an algorithm of a symmetric key patternwhich cannot be solved without knowing a card possessor's secret number.Accordingly, although internal card information is read from a portableterminal, the read card information cannot be used illegally. Here, onlypart of card information can be encrypted. The encrypted cardinformation is input in a portable terminal. For security, a customerwho visits a corresponding banking authority inputs information via aninterfacer located in the lower end of the portable terminal. Accordingto selection of a user, information can be input in a portable terminalby using a wireless network. Here, in the case that the secret number isencrypted in the form of an irreversible function, a security canfurther heightened. When a card substitute portable terminal issuedthrough the above process is used, a customer manipulates a keypad inthe portable terminal to input a settlement secret number and selects asettlement mode (step 243). At a settlement mode, a customer selects thekind of a card to be used and presses a transmission button. As aresult, the card information and secret number stored in the portableterminal are transmitted in the form of an infrared signal (step 244).An optical receiver connected to a POS terminal in a contract shopreceives the card information and secret number from the customer'sportable terminal and transmits the received result to the contract shopPOS terminal. Here, a distance between the portable terminal and theoptical receiver is a short distance within about one meter. Since alinearity is obtained by using light, it is not possible to illegallyrecord the information. The POS terminal operates a decoding algorithmwithout keeping a separate encryption key in custody, and decodes thecard information by using the received secret number (step 245).Thereafter, like the existing banking transaction systems, an approvalof the credit dealing is determined in a card company computer via a VANcompany (step 246). If the received secret number is incorrect, the cardinformation which is received and decoded is also incorrect. Thus, anapproval of the credit dealing is not made. In the case that a customerwishes to know his or her own card information at a portable terminalsettlement mode, he or she selects a card information ascertainmentmenu. Then, a decoding program operates in the portable terminal tothereby display information such as a card information and valid periodon a screen.

The optical payment settlement system can be applied to various fields.For example, the optical payment system can be used in most of fieldswhere a fee information. The FIG. 28 system includes a credit cardinquiry machine 30 or 31 for transferring the received credit cardinformation and requesting an approval of a dealing, and a VAN companyserver 40 for applying an approval according to the received approvalrequest and notifying an approval or a disapproval to the credit cardinquiry machine 30 or 31. Here, the optical payment receiver 20 or 21 isconnected to the credit card inquiry machine 30 by cable (see FIGS. 15Aand 15B), is fabricated in the form of an adapter in which a card readeris installed and connected to the credit card inquiry machine 30 (seeFIGS. 17A, 17B and 17C), or can be incorporated in the credit cardinquiry machine 31 (see FIG. 14). The operation with respect to anoptical settlement in a general commerce system of FIG. 28 having theabove-described configuration will be described in detail with referenceto FIG. 29.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation with respect toan optical settlement in a general commerce system of FIG. 28. Acustomer purchases an article (step 271). In the case that the customerpays for the article, a settlement method is selected (step 272). If thesettlement is optically performed, the customer transmits credit cardinformation to an optical receiver incorporated in or connected to acredit card inquiry machine 30 or 31 (step 273). That is, the customermakes a portable terminal to be used as an optical payment unit 10 facean optical payment receiver 20 or 21, and then presses a predeterminedbutton to transmit an optical signal indicating a dealing start. Here,the optical signal indicating the dealing start is transmitted togetherwith credit information including a name of a customer and a credit cardnumber. The optical payment receiver 20 or 21 receives an optical signalcontaining credit information and the received optical signal to thecredit card inquiry machine 30 or 31. The customer ascertains whetherthe credit information has been normally received (step 274). If not,the customer transmits the credit information again (step 273). If thecredit information has been normally received, a normal message isdisplayed on a screen of the portable terminal (step 275). Meanwhile, inthe case that other settlement unit is used other than light, anemployee performs a settlement procedure with other settlement unit ofthe customer (step 276). The credit card inquiry machine 30 or 31 checksthe input credit information (step 277). That is, the credit cardinquiry machine 30 or 31 transmits the input credit information to theVAN company server 40 to request an approval of a dealing. The VANcompany server 40 applies an approval to the corresponding card company50 according to the received approval request. The card company havingreceived the approval application checks credit status and transmits anapproval result to the credit card inquiry machine 30 or 31. In the casethat the approval application is rejected the credit card inquirymachine 30 or 31 performs the following steps including step 276 again,so that the dealing can be settled using other settlement unit. In thecase that the approval application is accepted, the credit card inquirymachine 30 or 31 prints a sales slip and receives a settlement signaturefrom the customer, to then deliver a customer's purchased article (step278).

FIG. 30 is a flowchart view for explaining an operation in the case thatthe settlement system of FIG. 28 is applied to a countercalculation-type restaurant.

A customer having had food at a restaurant selects a settlement methodat a counter at the time of payment for the food price (step 281). Here,the customer determines whether an optical payment settlement will beperformed (step 282). In the case of an optical payment settlement, thecustomer makes an optical receiver attached in a portable terminal 10being an optical payment unit face the optical receiver 20 or 21 andtransmits card information stored in the portable terminal 10 in theform of an optical signal to perform the settlement (step 283). Theoptical receiver 20 or 21 is connected to a credit card inquiry machine30 installed on a counter by cable or an adapter, or incorporated in acredit card inquiry machine 31. The optical receiver 20 or 21 receivesthe card information transmitted in the form of an optical signal fromthe optical transmitter in the portable terminal 10 being an opticalpayment transmitter, and sends a response signal with respect to thereceived card information. The portable terminal 10 being an opticalpayment transmitter receives the response signal sent from the opticalpayment receiver 20 or 21 at the end of the credit card inquiry machine30 or 31 and judges whether the transmitted card information has beennormally received (step 284). If the card information has not beennormally received, a message indicating an abnormal reception isdisplayed on a display of the portable terminal 10, and repeatedlyperforms the following steps including step 283 in order to re-transmitthe card information. If the card information has been normallyreceived, a message indicating a normal reception is displayed on thedisplay of the portable terminal 10 (step 285). The optical paymentreceiver 20 or 21 converts the received optical signal card informationinto the form which can be recognized in the credit card inquiry machine30 or 31 and transmits the converted result. If the customer'ssettlement method is not an optical payment settlement in step 282, thesettlement process is performed with other settlement unit (step 286).For example, if a settlement method is method of using a magnetic creditcard, the card reader of the credit card inquiry machine 30 or 31 or thecard reader mounted on the optical receiver adapter 21 reads a magneticportion on the card to receive card information. The credit card inquirymachine 30 or 31 ascertains credit information with respect to the cardinformation transmitted from the optical payment receiver 20 or 21 orinput via the card reader (step 287). That is, The credit card inquirymachine 30 or 31 requests for an approval to the card company via theVAN company server 40. The card company server 50 transmits a dealingapproval or disapproval to the credit card inquiry machine 30 or 31 viathe VAN company server 40 with respect to the requested cardinformation. In the result of credit information ascertainment, if anapproval of dealing is not accepted, the following steps including step286 are repeatedly performed. If an approval is accepted, an employeeprints out a sales slip from the credit card inquiry machine 30 or 31and receives a customer's signature thereon, a settlement is completelyfinished (step 288).

If only credit information is transmitted using a portable phone in theabove-described settlement system, only a signature of a purchaserperformed on a sales slip becomes a subject identification unit of thedealing action, according to a general practice in a present creditdealing. In particular, if a user should sign on a receipt every timewhen a dealing action is done in a credit settlement for traffic farerelated dealing action or a comparatively petty cash, the wholeexecution time of the dealing action is delayed. Thus, a commerceparticipant can be identified using a portable phone number.

FIG. 31 is a conceptual view of a settlement system adopting an opticalpayment using a phone number as an ID (IDentification), and FIG. 32 is aview showing a data flow of a settlement system adopting an opticalpayment using a phone number as an ID (IDentification).

When credit information is stored in a portable terminal such as aportable phone or a PDA, the credit information corresponds to the phonenumber assigned to the terminal on a one-to-one basis and stored in theterminal. If a button input is done by the user for optical paymentsettlement, the portable terminal (MU) 10 transmits the phone numbertogether with the stored credit information in the form of an infraredsignal. The optical receiver (BU) 20 receiving the phone number extractsthe credit information and the phone number from the received opticalsignal. The optical receiver (BU) 20 transmits the extracted creditinformation and phone number to the credit card inquiry machine 30. Thecredit card inquiry machine 30 transmits the received credit informationfor authentication externally and keeps the phone number in custody. Thecard company 50 receives the credit information and approves dealtparticulars. If the dealt particulars have been approved, the creditcard inquiry machine 30 prints out purchased particulars together withthe kept phone number on a receipt. Accordingly, a transaction subjectis indicated as a phone number on the receipt.

In the optical payment settlement system using a phone number as an ID,a person concerned which performs dealings using a portable terminalselects a mobile communications company of his or her own subscribedterminal not a card company as a dealing authority, in order to performa dealings action, in the case of a vendor machine or a traffic farerelated dealing action, which is a batch processing settlement systemwithout passing through an existing on-line approval system, to therebydiversify selection of a credit dealing authority.

A phone number which can be used as an ID has been already stored in aportable terminal and the phone number is used on a one-to-onerelationship basis with respect to the portable terminal. If a userselects a mobile communications company as a credit dealing authority inthe case of a vendor machine or a traffic fare related dealing action,which is a batch processing settlement system, and performs a buttonmanipulation for optical payment settlement, the portable terminaltransmits the contained phone number together with an authentication keyin an infrared form. The optical receiver receiving the phone numbertogether with the authentication key identifies the authentication keyusing a decoding key and approves dealing particulars and keeps it incustody, if it is identified that the transmitted phone number is aspecific number input when the user subscribed in the communicationsnetwork, using the identified authentication key.

FIG. 33 is a configuration view showing a toll gate fee settlementsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention. The system shown in FIG. 33 includes controllers 100and 300 which are installed at a toll gate entrance side and a toll gateexit side, respectively and a business office computer 200. The entrancecontroller 100 includes a vehicle approach detector 102, a vehicledeparture detector 103, a vehicle classifier 106, a ticket issuingmachine 105, a vehicle lane controller 101. The entrance controller 100also includes a bidirectional optical transceiver 104 which can performboth transmission and reception operations. The exit controller 300includes a vehicle lane controller 301, a vehicle detector 302, a fixedamount ticket identifier 303, a receipt issuing machine 304, and aticket processor 305. The exit controller 300 also includes abidirectional optical transceiver 306 which can perform transmission andreception operations. The operation of the toll gate fee settlement inthe toll gate system having the above configuration will be described indetail with respect to FIGS. 34 and 35.

If a vehicle arrives at an access road of a departure toll gate, adriver or a passenger makes a portable optical payment transmitter facethe optical transceiver 104 which is located at the side of the accessroad, and then presses a transmission button. The card informationstored in the optical payment transmitter is transmitted in the form ofan optical signal. The optical transceiver 104 receives the cardinformation transmitted from the optical payment transmitter. Theoptical transceiver 104 checks a signal format of the received cardinformation. In the case that the signal format is normal which meets apredetermined protocol, the card information is transmitted to thevehicle lane controller 101. The vehicle lane controller 101 adds one tothe number of standby vehicles (step 322), if a vehicle approach isdetected in the vehicle approach detector 102 (step 321). Then, thevehicle lane controller 101 ascertains whether the approaching vehicleis an optical payment information transmission vehicle (step 323). Ifthe approaching vehicle is an optical payment information transmissionvehicle, the vehicle lane controller 101 sends entrance related approachinformation in the form of an optical signal via the optical transceiver104 (step 324). The portable terminal being the optical paymenttransmitter records the entrance approach information transmitted fromthe optical transceiver 104 in a memory. The entrance approachinformation includes a current toll gate information, time informationand vehicle type information. The vehicle type is classified via thevehicle classifier 106. If the approaching vehicle is not an opticalpayment information transmission vehicle, the vehicle lane controller101 sends entrance approach information to the ticket issuing machine105 to make the ticket issuing machine issue a ticket containingentrance approach information (step 325). If the above procedure iscompleted, the vehicle lane controller 101 displays a signal approvingpassage of the vehicle and informs the passenger of a passage approval(step 326). The vehicle lane controller 101 subtracts one from thenumber of standby vehicles (step 328) if a vehicle departure is detectedin the vehicle departure detector 103 (step 327). The vehicle lanecontroller 101 transmits each vehicle entrance approach information to acorresponding business office computer 200.

If a vehicle having passed through a departure toll gate arrives at anarrival toll gate, a driver or a passenger makes the portable opticalpayment transmitter face the optical transceiver 306 which is located atthe toll gate access road, and then presses a transmission button. Thecard information stored in the optical payment transmitter istransmitted in the form of an optical signal, and the entrance approachinformation stored in the memory is transmitted in the form of anoptical signal. The optical transceiver 306 receives the cardinformation and the entrance approach information transmitted from theoptical payment transmitter. The optical transceiver 306 checks a signalformat of the information transmitted from the optical paymenttransmitter. In the case that the signal format is normal, the opticaltransceiver 306 transmits the received information to the vehicle lanecontroller 301. The vehicle lane controller 301 adds one to the numberof standby vehicles (step 332), if a vehicle approach is detected in thevehicle approach detector 302 (step 331). Then, the vehicle lanecontroller 301 ascertains whether the approaching vehicle is an opticalpayment information transmission vehicle (step 333). If the approachingvehicle is an optical payment information transmission vehicle, thevehicle lane controller 301 calculates a passage fee as much as acorresponding passage interval based on the transmitted information, andlevies a passage fee in linkage with the card information (step 334).The vehicle lane controller 301 records the transaction particulars in amemory of the optical transceiver 306 and simultaneously transmits thetransaction particulars to the optical payment-transmitter so that acumulative settlement amount is stored (step 335). The transactionparticulars is transmitted to the business office computer 200 and thenbe recorded therein. Meanwhile, if the approaching vehicle is not anoptical payment information transmission vehicle, the ticket processor305 receives from the driver the ticket issued at a departure toll gateand levies a toll gate passage fee in cash or a fixed amount ticket(step 336). In the case that the toll gate passage fee is paid in thefixed amount ticket, a corresponding fee is settled via the fixed amountticket identifier 303 and then the difference is recorded and displayedthereon and returned. After a fee is levied through the above procedure,a receipt is issued via the receipt issuance machine 304. If a passagefee is settled, the vehicle lane controller 301 displays a passageapproval (step 337). The vehicle lane controller 301 subtracts one fromthe number of the standby vehicles (step 339), if a vehicle approach isdetected in the vehicle detector 302 (step 338).

The business office computer 200 checks whether the transactionparticulars recorded with respect to the approaching and departingvehicles are congruous with the transaction particulars recorded in theoptical transceivers 104 and 306 attached to the toll gates by everypoint of time. If two recorded transaction particulars are congruouswith each other, the business office computer 200 clears the records ofthe optical transceivers 104 and 306, and transmits the transactionparticulars to a collection server (not shown). Here, the collectionserver is a central server for centrally controlling respective businessoffice computers connected to each other. The collection server checksif the transaction particulars recorded in the business office computer200 are congruous with the collected data and transmits the collecteddata in a bundle to a card company server only when the former iscongruous with the latter. Then, the recorded data in the businessoffice computer 200 is cleared.

FIG. 36 is a configuration view showing a drive-thru order systemadopting an optical payment settlement system according to the presentinvention. The system shown in FIG. 36 further includes an opticalreceiver 344 which is attached at a proper position on an order itemsdisplay board 343 of an existing system, for receiving card informationin the form of an optical signal. Here, customers riding in a vehicleuse an optical payment unit such as a portable phone containing a creditcard in which an optical transmitter transmitting the card informationin the form of an optical signal is attached.

FIG. 37 is a configuration view showing an optical payment settlementsystem in the FIG. 36 system. The system shown in FIG. 37 includes aportable phone 10 containing card information and transmitting the cardinformation in the form of an optical signal as an optical payment unit,an optical receiver 344 attached to the order items display board 343,for receiving the card information in the form of an optical signal, anda card inquiry machine or POS (point of sales) terminal 60 connected tothe optical receiver 344, for receiving the transmitted card informationand ascertaining a transaction approval. It is possible to use anyportable article in addition to the portable phone 10, as an opticalpayment unit. Here, the order items display board 343 and the opticalreceiver 344 attached card inquiry machine or POS terminal 60 areinstalled in a store. The optical receiver 344 and the card inquirymachine 60 are connected each other by cable or with an adapter. TheFIG. 37 system includes a VAN company server 40 which transmits thetransaction approval requested card information to the card companyserver 50 being a settlement authority and transmits the approval ordisapproval result to the card inquiry machine or POS terminal 60.

The operation of the optical payment settlement system in the drive-thruordering system having the above configuration will be described indetail with reference to FIGS. 38 and 39, as well as FIG. 36.

A customer stops a vehicle at an order reception stand 340A (step 371).Then, the customer sees a menu plate 341 installed at the orderreception stand 340A and orders a commodity to be purchased at the statewhere the customer gets in the vehicle (step 372). A clerk receivingorders inputs order data in the POS 60. The input data is output on ascreen which can be seen by a clerk who selects the commodity so thatthe clerk takes out ad pays the customer's ordered commodity. If anorder is completed, the customer determines whether or not the commoditypayment is done by an optical payment settlement (step 373). In the casethat an optical payment settlement is done, the customer identifies theitem-by-item order particulars with the payment settlement amount, whichare displayed on the order items display board 343 installed at theorder reception stand 340A (step 374), to thereby perform an opticalpayment settlement. Here, the customer can settle the payment withoutopening a window of the vehicle. As shown in FIG. 38, the order itemsdisplay board 343 indicates a commodity name, a quantity, an amount anda sum total. Also, the optical receiver 344 is attached on anappropriate place of the order items display board 343, for example, onthe upper-right side thereof. Thus, the customer identifies the orderparticulars with the payment settlement amount, which are displayed onthe order items display board 343 and then makes the optical transmitterattached on the portable phone 10 being an optical payment unit face theoptical receiver 344, to thereby transmit the card information containedin the portable phone 10 in the form of an optical signal and perform anoptical payment settlement. The optical receiver 344 attached on theorder items display board 343 is optically receives the optical signalcard information transmitted from the portable phone 10 which is thecustomer optical payment unit. The optical receiver 344 converts thereceived optical signal card information into the form which can berecognized at the card inquiry machine or POS terminal 60 and transmitsthe converted result. The card inquiry machine or POS terminal 60requests for approval to the card company via the VAN company server 40with respect to the card information transmitted from the opticalreceiver 344. The card company server 50 transmits a transactionapproval or disapproval result with respect to the requested cardinformation to the card inquiry machine or POS terminal 60 which hasrequested a transaction approval via the VAN company server 40. Duringawaiting an approval, the customer drives the vehicle and moves acommodity withdrawal stand 340B (step 375). At step 373, if a customersettlement method is not an optical payment settlement, the customerdrives the vehicle and moves to the commodity withdrawal stand 340Bimmediately after a commodity is ordered (step 376). It is checkedwhether a credit card settlement is approved in the case of an opticalpayment settlement at the state where the vehicle stops at the commoditywithdrawal stand 340B (step 377). After the card settlement has beenapproved in the result of checking in step 377, the customer receivesthe ordered commodity and a card receipt from the clerk (step 378) andthen departs (step 381). If the card settlement is not approved or asettlement method is not an optical payment settlement, the settlementis done in cash as in the conventional case (step 379). After thesettlement is done in cash, the customer receives an ordered commodityfrom the clerk (step 380) and then departs (step 381).

As described above, in the case that the drive-thru ordering systemadopts an optical payment settlement system, payment information istransmitted at the same time when an order is sent, and thus all thesettlements for payment of the commodity are completed, thereby sharplyincreasing a sales amount per time.

FIG. 40 is a configuration view showing a gas station fee collectionsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention. The system shown in FIG. 40 includes a mobile opticalrelayer 180 and an optical relayer base unit 190, in which the portablemobile optical relayer 180 held by a gas filler operator receivespayment information, and the gas filler operator makes the opticalrelayer 180 connected to the optical relayer base unit 190 in order toinput payment information into a card inquiry machine or POS terminal 60and make a transaction approval and settlement accomplished. Theoperation of the optical payment settlement system in the gas stationfee collection system having the above configuration will be describedbelow with reference to FIG. 41.

At a gas station, an operator informs a customer that a fuel iscompletely filled and asks a settlement method of him or her. Then, thecustomer selects a settlement method after filing (step 391). Theoperator ascertains whether the customer's desired settlement method isan optical payment settlement method (step 392). In the case that thecustomer desires an optical payment, the operator inputs a settlementamount into a mobile optical relayer 180 and presents the settlementamount entered mobile optical relayer 180 to the customer (step 393).The customer ascertains the settlement amount displayed on the mobileoptical relayer 180 presented by the operator at the state where thecustomer gets in the car, and transmits credit information to the mobileoptical relayer 180, by means of a portable phone 10 which is his or herown optical payment unit (step 394). The mobile optical relayer 180ascertains whether an optical signal has successfully arrived from theportable phone (step 395). If the optical signal arrives at the mobileoptical relayer normally, the credit information included in the opticalsignal is temporarily stored in the mobile optical relayer 180. In thecase that an optical signal does not reach normally or the reachedoptical signal is abnormal so as not to read credit informationnormally, the operator requests that credit information should bere-transmitted to the mobile optical relayer. Here, it is natural thatan optical receiver be attached in a portable phone 10 which is anoptical payment unit so that the mobile optical relayer 180 requeststhat credit information be retransmitted to the portable phone 10automatically, through automatic optical communications between theportable phone 10 and the mobile optical relayer 180. After receivingthe credit information, the operator takes the mobile optical relayer180 to an optical relayer base unit 190 in order to transmit the creditinformation to the optical relayer base unit 190 (step 396). This methodcan be largely embodied into two. First, the mobile optical relayer 180is so mounted that the connector of the mobile optical relayer 180contacts the connector of the optical relayer base unit 190. Second, themobile optical relayer 180 transmits an optical signal including creditinformation to the optical receiver in the optical relayer base unit190. Here, the mobile optical relayer 180 transmits corresponding creditinformation to the optical relayer base unit 190 only one time. In thecase that a customer desires to pay for in cash or other settlementmethods other than an optical payment at step 392, a settlementprocedure proceeds depending upon the customer's desired settlementmethod (step 397). That is, a customer hands over his or her ownmagnetic card to an operator, and then the operator processes asettlement using a card reader in a credit card inquiry machine or POSterminal 60 installed in a settlement place. In the case that a magneticinterface card is attached to the mobile optical relayer 180 held by theoperator, the magnetic credit card is read using the magnetic interfacecard without using a card reader in the credit card inquiry machine orPOS terminal 60 and then the read card information is temporarily storedto then be the optical relayer base unit 190. The optical relayer baseunit 190 having received the credit information from the mobile opticalrelayer 180 transmits the corresponding credit information to the creditcard inquiry machine or POS terminal 60. The credit card inquiry machineor POS terminal 60 the credit information to the VAN or card company 40or 50 to ascertain whether the transaction is approved (step 398). Ifthe transaction is approved from the VAN or card company 40 or 50, theoptical relayer base unit 190 prints transaction particulars with aprinter and outputs the printed result, and the operator hands over theprinted receipt to the corresponding customer to make him or her checkthe transaction particulars (step 399). If the transaction is notapproved from the VAN or card company due to a poor credit or an excesslimit, the optical relayer base unit 190 outputs an error signal andmakes another settlement unit perform a settlement as in step 397.

Here, in the case that an optical receiver is mounted in the credit cardinquiry machine or POS terminal 60, the mobile optical relayer 180directly transmits customer's credit information to the credit cardinquiry machine or POS terminal 60 which is not the optical relayer baseunit 190, in the form of an optical signal to thereby perform an opticalpayment.

Also, in the case of a bonus card issued in order to assign a bonuspoint depending upon an amount of fuel filled and pay for a commodityaccording to a cumulated points, a card number is contained in aportable phone, so as to be transmitted in the form of an opticalsignal. The POS terminal 60 transmits points depending upon the inputbonus card number and the amount of fuel filled to a corresponding oilrefinery company 70. The oil refinery company 70 cumulates a newlygenerated point to the points cumulated in the corresponding card numberand transmits the cumulated points to the POS terminal 60 again, tothereby make the customer identify how many total points are his or herown bonus points.

In the case that an optical payment settlement method is used in theabove-described gas station fee levying system, the customer can settlethe cost incurred instantly without moving to the credit card inquirymachine or POS terminal 60 and needing to hand over a credit card to anoperator.

FIG. 42 is a configuration view showing a department store settlementsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention. The department store settlement system shown in FIG.42 is configured to have the substantially same configuration as that ofthe gas station fee levying system shown in FIG. 40. However, a POSterminal 60 is not directly connected to a VAN company 40 but isconnected to the VAN company 40 via a department store server 80.

A customer transmits payment information in the form of an opticalsignal to a mobile optical relayer 180 held by a department store clerkduring purchasing an article and performs a settlement of the costincurred. The department store clerk transmits the payment informationreceived in the optical relayer 180 to the credit card inquiry machineor POS terminal 60 via the optical receiver incorporated in orexternally mounted on the credit card inquiry machine or POS terminal60, or the credit card inquiry machine or POS terminal 60 via theoptical relayer base unit 190. The credit card inquiry machine or POSterminal 60 sends the transmitted credit information to the VAN or cardcompany 40 or 50 via the department store server 80, to thereby identifya transaction approval or disapproval. If the transaction is approvedfrom the VAN or card company 40 or 50, the optical relayer base unit 190prints transaction particulars with a printer and outputs the printedresult, and the department store clerk hands over the printed receipt tothe corresponding customer to make him or her check the transactionparticulars. Here, in the case that payment information is cardinformation of a card issued from a department store, a department storeserver 80 itself determines a transaction approval or disapproval inconsideration of personal credit information, an installment approval ordisapproval, and a settlement amount.

As described above, the optical settlement system including the mobileoptical relayer and the optical relayer base unit can be applied to acustomer table calculation restaurant. In this case, a clerk uses aclip-type mobile optical relayer as shown in FIG. 20.

Also, the present invention can be applied to an unmanned vendingmachine installed in a building or on the street, to thereby make a useruse the vending machine although he or she does not have a coin or smallpetty cash.

FIG. 43 is a configuration view showing an unmanned automatic vendingsystem adopting an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention. The system shown in FIG. 43 includes a portableterminal (MU) 410, and an automatic vending machine 420 including anoptical transceiver 421 in order to receive optical payment informationof the portable terminal 410. The automatic vending machine 420 alsoincludes a controller 422 for controlling the operation of product salesand a recorder 423 for recording particulars of sales. The detailedconfiguration of the automatic vending machine 420 is shown in FIG. 44.The FIG. 43 system includes a totalization device 412 for totalling saleparticulars recorded in the recorder 423 in automatic vending machines420 which are discretely disposed in mutually different places, and atransmission terminal 414 for transmitting the totalized salesparticulars to the VAN company 416 or card company 418 to be processedfor approval in bulk. The operation of settlement of the expenses in theunmanned automatic vending system having the above configuration will bedescribed below with reference to FIG. 45.

A customer pays for products purchased (step 431). In the case of acoffee automatic vending machine, a customer pays for drinks of the kindto be desired. In the case of a cash payment, the customer inputs acorresponding amount of cash into a cash inlet 424 in the automaticvending machine 420. In the case of an optical payment, card informationis optically transmitted via the portable terminal 40. The opticaltransceiver 421 in the automatic vending machine 420 receives an opticalsignal including the card information, and transmits the receivedoptical signal to a controller 422. The controller 422 checks if apayment is an optical payment settlement (step 432). In the case of theoptical payment settlement, it is checked if the received correspondingcard information is significant information (step 433). It isascertained of its own power without passing through a card company 418whether the card information is significant. That is, the controller 422stores for registration poor transaction card information, named as cardinformation corresponding to a blacklist and simply ascertains whetherthe received card information is included in the previously registeredpoor transaction card information, to thereby identify a validity of thecard. Through such a simple identification, each automatic vendingmachine does not need to install a particular dedicated line to performa credit card information inquiry and a transaction approval by the cardcompany 418 or the VAN company 416, to thereby make an installation costlow. Also, the poor trade or blacklist is periodically updated tothereby secure safety of transactions. Of course, a blacklist isregistered in the corresponding portable terminal 410 so that paymentinformation need not be transmitted optically in the portable terminal410, in which case it need not be identified whether card information isvalid. The registration of the poor traders will be described later. Ifa payment is not an optical payment settlement in step 432, it is judgedwhether an amount of money more than a corresponding price of thepurchased product is input into the cash inlet 424 (step 434). If thecorresponding card information is valid information in step 433 or theinput money is more than the corresponding product price in step 434,the controller 422 displays a product withdrawal approval signal on aproduct selector 426 (step 435). The customer selects a desired productwhich is displayed for approval of withdrawal on the product selector426. The controller 422 discharges the selected product (step 436). Forexample, in the case that a customer selects a cup of “milk coffee,” thecontroller 422 controls a coffee motor driver 429A, a sugar motor driver429B and a milk motor driver 429C to be driven, and discharge a cup ofmilk coffee mixed with coffee, sugar and milk through a cup outlet 428.In the case of a cash payment, the controller 422 calculates change anddischarges a corresponding amount of money via a money refunder 427. Ifa customer cancels a purchase of product via a refund requester 427, thecontroller 422 refunds the input money via the refunder 427. If thecustomer receives the discharged product, the controller 422 checksagain if a payment is an optical payment settlement (step 437). In thecase of an optical payment, the sales particulars are recorded in therecorder 423 (step 438).

Meanwhile, an operator of the automatic vending machine 420 goes to theplaces where the automatic vending machines 420 are installed with thetotalization device 412 every interval of period, to collect particularsof sales in sum. That is, the sale particulars recorded in the recorder423 are downloaded into the totalization device 412 via the opticaltransceiver 421 in the automatic vending machine 420. The operatorcollects all the sales particulars with respect to the automatic vendingmachines which are distributively located in various places, and thenmakes the totalization device 412 connected with a transfer terminal 414to then be transmitted to the server of the VAN company 416 for approvalin bulk. The server of the VAN company 416 transmits thebulk-approval-requested sales particulars to the server of thecorresponding card company 418. Here, the totalization device 412 andthe transfer terminal 414 will be described below.

FIG. 46 is a configuration view showing a kiosk fee payment systemadopting an optical payment settlement system according to the presentinvention.

A portable terminal 410 is a portable phone or portable personal devicecontaining card information such as a credit card, an advance paymentcard and a direct payment card, which can transmit user's cardinformation in the form of an optical signal.

A kiosk 440 receives an optical signal from the portable terminal 410,extracts card information from the received optical signal and issues auser's desired document. The kiosk 440 stores transaction details andthen transmits the stored transaction details to a totalization server450 through a phone call connection in accordance with an operator'smanipulation. The totalization server 450 transmits the totalizedtransaction details to a card company 418 in a package.

The server 418 of the card company 418 remits a corresponding dealingamount into an operator's account of a designated kiosk if a dealingdetails of a kiosk is received, and charges for a dealing amount to acard user.

FIG. 47 is a detailed block diagram showing the kiosk 440 of FIG. 46,which shows an example of issuance of a certificate. A certificateissuance system shown in FIG. 47 includes an input portion 444 forinputting personal information necessary for issuance of certificates, adisplay 445 for displaying screen information thereon, thereby enablinga user to conform his or her desired information, and a fee processor446 for processing a fee with respect to the issued certificate. The feeprocessor 446 includes a coin/bill recognizer 447 for recognizing anamount of input coins or bills, a sum display 448 for displaying therecognized amount, and a coin/bill collecting box 449 for collecting theinput coins or bills. The fee processor 446 also includes an opticalreceiver 441 for receiving an optical signal including card informationfrom the portable terminal 410 being an optical payment unit, and atransaction details storage device 443 for storing transaction details.The certificate issuance system of FIG. 47 also includes a main computer451 having the contents which are contained in an issuable certificate,and a controller 442 for controlling the whole operation of eachelement, and a certificate printer 452 for printing a user's desiredcertificate and issuing the same under the control of the controller442. A collective material printer 453 prints transaction details andissues the same to a user as a receipt. The operation of a fee paymentin a self-service automatic certificate issuance system having theabove-described configuration will be described in detail, withreference to FIG. 48.

The controller 442 displays a menu including possible services which canbe provided on the display 445, to thereby let a customer to select hisor her desired service (step 461). The customer sees the contents of themenu displayed on the display 445 and selects his or her desiredservice. If a service is selected via the input portion 444, thecontroller 442 displays a fee on the display 445 so that a customer topay for a corresponding fee (step 462). Here, the controller 442confirms whether an optical payment settlement is displayed on thedisplay 445 (step 463). The customer confirms an amount displayed on thedisplay 445 and then pays for the amount of fees in his or her desiredsettlement method. In the case of an optical payment settlement, thecustomer makes the portable terminal 410 used as an optical payment unitface the optical receiver 441 in the fee processor 446, and thentransmits card information in the form of an optical signal (step 464).The optical receiver 441 in the fee processor 446 extracts cardinformation from the received optical signal and transmits the extractedresult to the controller 442. The controller 442 confirms whether thereceived corresponding card information is significant information (step465). If the card information is not significant information, thecontroller 442 notifies the customer that the card information is notsignificant information and lets the customer to pay for it in cash(step 466). If the card information is significant, the controller 442displays normal indication on the display 445 and receives necessarypersonal information such as an identification via the input portion 444(step 467). The controller 442 stores the transaction details in thetransaction details storage unit 443 (step 468). Here, the transactiondetails includes service items, fees, issuance dates, and so on. If thepayment is not an optical payment settlement in step 463, the customerpays for the fee in cash (step 466). In the case that the fee has beenpaid for in an optical payment or cash, the controller 442 loadsnecessary information from the main computer 441 based on the inputinformation, prints a certificate via the certificate printer 452 andissues the printed certificate to the customer (step 469).

As described above, the transaction details collected in the transactiondetails storage unit 443 are transmitted to a totalization server 450 ata certain point in time. That is, the stored transaction details aretransmitted by manipulation of an operator of the kiosk 440. Thetotalization server 450 compares the transmitted transaction detailswith those stored in the transaction details storage unit 443, andtransmits the transaction details to the card company 418 in packageonly if both the transaction details equal each other, to then clear allthe transaction details of the transaction details storage unit 443.Here, the kiosks are distributively disposed in various places andconnected via a computer network. Thus, the main computer 451 managingthe kiosks in entirety plays a role of the totalization server 450. Thecard company having received the transaction details remits an amount ofmoney based on the corresponding transaction details to a bank accountof the operator of the predetermined kiosk 440 and sends a debit note tothe customer.

In the case that a settlement on credit cannot be performed on areal-time basis as in an automatic vending machine or kiosk, a mobilecollection device is needed, in which the collected credit informationis totally calculated, to thereby enable the customer to move to a placewhich can settle the payment on credit. The present invention provides amobile collection device using a PDA or memory pack.

FIG. 49A is a block diagram showing an automatic vending system adoptinga mobile collection device using a PDA. FIG. 49B shows an example of thePDA applied in the FIG. 49A system.

An optical payment receiver 471 installed in an automatic vending systemmonitors a vending machine controller 470 via an intermediate frequency(I/F) portion 477. Whenever a transaction item occurs in the result ofmonitoring, a CPU 475 detects the transaction item and records the samein an internal memory 476. Meanwhile, a PDA illustrated in FIG. 49Bincludes an attached infrared (Ir) transceiver 481 and communicates withan optical payment receiver 471 in the automatic vending system using aninfrared ray. An operator of the automatic vending system manipulates amenu key on the PDA 480 to activate a transaction details collectionprogram, and then directs the Ir transceiver 481 to a collection objectmachine to then transmit a collection command in the form of an infraredray. The received collection command is converted into a signal whichcan be recognized by the CPU 475 via an Ir converter 473 and a UART 474,to thereby control a CPU 475. The CPU 475 reads transaction details datarecorded in the internal memory 476 according to the collection commandand outputs the read result to the Ir transceiver 472 via the UART 474and the Ir converter 473. The Ir transceiver 472 transmits the inputtransaction details data in the form of an infrared ray. The Irtransceiver 481 of the PDA 480 receives the infrared signal of thetransaction details transmitted from the optical payment receiver 471 inthe automatic vending system. The received transaction details arrive atthe CPU 484 via the Ir converter 482 and the UART 483, and recorded inthe internal memory 485. The CPU 485 checks whether or not data issuccessfully received and displays the checked result on a LCD 486, tothereby let the operator monitor the collection status. If transactiondetails are totalized in the PDA 480, the transaction details, thetotalized transaction details are transmitted to a PC via an Ir port ora serial port 487, to a central collection center using transmissionsale management software, or a central collection device using aseparate communications unit such as a portable phone, a base unit, etc.

FIG. 50A is a block diagram showing a mobile collection device using amemory pack. FIG. 50B shows a connection state of the memory pack ofFIG. 50A.

An optical payment receiver 471 installed in an automatic vending systemmonitors a vending machine controller 470 via an intermediate frequency(I/F) portion 477. Whenever a transaction item occurs in the result ofmonitoring, a CPU 475 detects the transaction item and records the samein an internal memory 476. A memory pack 488 for collecting transactiondetails is a non-volatile memory NVRAM, and is connected to a UART 474in the optical payment receiver 471 via a memory connector 479 as shownin FIG. 50B. In order to totalize the transaction details, an operatorof the automatic vending system inserts the memory pack 488 into thememory connector 479. The UART 474 having detected a connection state ofthe memory pack 488 notifies the CPU 475 of the memory pack connectionstate. The CPU 475 reads the transaction details recorded in a memory476 according to the notification of the UART 474 and records the readresult in the memory pack 488 connected via the UART 474. If thetransaction details are totalized in the memory pack 488, the operatordetaches the memory pack 488 from the optical payment receiver 471 andtransmits the memory pack 488 to a corresponding settlement authority (acard company or bank).

In the case of the above mobile collection device, an administratordisposed in a system installation place totalizes transaction detailsand collects the totalized PDA or memory pack, to then be directlycarried to a settlement authority. Thus, the present invention providesa transfer terminal which can transfer transaction details datacollected via a modem.

FIG. 51A is a block diagram showing an automatic vending system adoptinga power line modem connection device. FIG. 51B shows connection statesof the automatic vendors applied in the FIG. 51A system in a building.

When each of devices included in an automatic vending system isinstalled in each floor in a building having a plurality of floors, apower line in the building provides a closed circuit. That is, as shownin FIG. SIB, a power line modem 495 is connected to a power source to beconnected to a power line of each vending machine 490(1), . . . , 490(N)installed in each floor. Thus, sales information generated in thevending machine 490(1), . . . , 490(N) installed in each floor istemporarily stored in an internal memory of an optical payment receiver(BU) 491 installed in the corresponding vending machine 490(1), . . . ,490(N). The stored sales information is modulated in a converter 492 inorder to be transmitted via the power line and loaded into the powerline 494 while passing through a power line mixer 493. Here, the powerline mixer 493 ascertains whether a transmission exists via other powerline mixers. When there is no transmission, a power line is used.Accordingly, there is no mixture or collision during transmission. Also,the vending machines 490(1), . . . , 490(N) installed in other floorsload sales information into a power line via the same procedure as theabove. A power line modem 495 connected to a separate power sourceordinarily monitors whether information is loaded in a power line. Wheninformation is recognized in the result of monitoring, a separator 496in the power line modem 495 starts to operate and transmits salesinformation to a central server via a phone line 498 or an antenna 499through a modem 497. Thus, the sales information of the vending machines490(1), . . . , 490(N) is transmitted to the central server in real-timeor in a package processing method.

FIG. 52A is a block diagram showing a mobile communications modemincorporated transmission terminal. FIG. 52B shows an externalappearance of the FIG. 52A mobile communications modem incorporatedtransmission terminal. The terminal is configured to wirelessly transmittransaction details data collected through the connection to acollection device shown in FIGS. 49A, 49B, 50A and 50B.

An administrator who processes transaction details in a packagemanipulates a keypad 505 of a transmission terminal 500 shown in FIG.52B and sets the transmission terminal into an account mode. Theadministrator makes the transmission terminal 500 set as the accountmode positioned in the proximity of a collector which is an accountobject, and communications are performed between the transmissionterminal and the collector. The administrator can connect the collectorby port with the transmission terminal 500 via a serial interface unit501. The transmission terminal 500 receives the collected transactiondetails from the collector (not shown) which is an account object in theform of an infrared signal in a package via an infrared interface unit502. In the case of a connection by port, the transmission terminal 500receives transaction details data via the serial interface unit 501. Amicroprocessor 503 temporarily stores transaction details data input viathe infrared interface unit 502 or the serial interface unit 501 in aninternal memory 504. Then, the microprocessor 503 transmits the storedtransaction details data to a central server (not shown) via atransceiver 507 wirelessly. The microprocessor 503 displays thetransmission result on a display 506 to thereby allow the administratorto recognize the communications service state.

In the case of the above-described power line modem connection device ormobile communications modem incorporated terminal, a system should benewly constructed. Thus, a portable phone connection device is providedso that transaction details data can be transmitted via a portable phonewhich is mostly and widely possessed by people.

FIG. 53A is a block diagram showing an automatic vending system adoptinga portable phone connection device. FIG. 53B shows an example ofconnection of the portable phone to the vending system.

As shown in FIG. 53B, a vending machine controller 470 is attached inthe inside of the front cover in the vending machine and a portablephone connection device 510 is attached below the vending machinecontroller 470. A cable connector 515 is provided in the portable phoneconnection device 510, to be connected to the external connection port517 of a portable phone 518 via a cable 516. When the portable phone 517is connected to the cable connection device 515 in the portable phoneconnection device 510, the portable phone connection is notified to aCPU 512 via a UART 514. The CPU 512 monitors a vending machinecontroller 470 via an I/F portion 511. If a transaction item isdetected, the CPU 512 receives the transaction details ad stores thesame in a memory 513. If a portable phone connection is notified to theCPU 512 via the UART 514, the CPU 512 makes a phone call through theportable phone 518 by a preset connection number and transmits thetransaction details data stored in the memory 513. If the transactiondetails data is successfully transmitted to the called party, the CPU512 deletes the recorded contents stored in the memory 513. Here, theset phone number is a number which can be connected to a central serverin a corresponding settlement authority such as a card company or bank.

By the way, in the case that a portable phone is used as describedabove, the present invention cannot be applied to an automatic vendingmachine which is installed in a place out of service. Thus, the presentinvention provides an Internet connection device which can transmittransaction details via the Internet having no regional limitation.

FIG. 54A is a block diagram showing an Internet accessible device. FIG.54B shows an external connection state with respect to a PC. Referringto FIG. 54B, an Internet connection device 520 is connected to anInternet accessible PC 526 by cable. The Internet connection device 520includes a memory connector 521 which can be connected to a PDA 480 or amemory pack 488, which is a mobile collection device, and an infraredI/F portion 522 which receives the collected transaction details data byinfrared communications.

An administrator connects a PC 26 to a connection device 520 by cable.The mobile collection device shown in FIGS. 49A, 49B, 50A and 50B with amemory connector 521. The memory connector 521 recognizes thetransaction details data collected in the memory 488 installed in themobile collection device, and transmits the recognized transactiondetails data to a CPU 524 via the UART 523. The connection device 520can receive the transaction details data via infrared communicationswithout having no connection with the mobile collection device. That is,an infrared I/F portion 522 in the connection device 520 recognizes thetransaction details data in the infrared ray form and transmits therecognized result to the CPU 524 via the UART 523. The CPU 524 transmitsthe received data to the PC 526 connected to a serial port 525 via theUART 523. The PC 526 transmits the transaction details data transmittedfrom the connection device 520 to a central server 527, at the statewhere the PC 526 accesses the central server 527 in a correspondingsettlement authority via the Internet. After transferring thetransaction details data, the CPU 524 transmits a command to delete therecording contents from a memory 488 in the connected mobile collectiondevice if data is successfully transmitted. Since the memory recordingcontents are cleared whenever the collected transaction details data istransmitted to the central server 527 normally, a memory capacity is notmuch occupied.

In the case of a place where the Internet is not supplied, a dial-up VANconnection device is provided so that transaction details data can betransmitted via a phone line.

FIG. 55A is a block diagram showing a dial-up VAN accessible device.FIG. 55B shows an external connection state of the FIG. 55A dial-up VANaccessible device. Referring to FIG. 55B, a phone line is connected toone side of a connection device 530 fabricated in the form of a box, anda plurality of coupling holes are provided on the other side of theconnection device 530, so as connect with a plurality of memory packseach being a mobile collection device. Also, a LED is provided incorrespondence to each coupling hole, so that a current processing statecan be checked by each memory pack.

An administrator connects the memory packs 488 in the mobile collectiondevice to be processed with each coupling hole in the connection device530 connected to the phone line. Transaction details data collected froma vending machine installed in a respectively different place isrecorded in each memory pack 488. The CPU 532 transmits the data to amodem 533 via a UART 531 and loads it in the phone line to then betransmitted to a central server 527. After transferring the transactiondetails data, the CPU 532 deletes the recording contents of theprocessed memory pack 488 if data is successfully transmitted.

When the above-described transfer terminal is used, the optical paymentsettlement method according to the present invention can be applied to abus or taxi fare automatic collection system.

FIG. 56 is a configuration view showing a bus/taxi fare automaticcollection system adopting an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention. A system shown in FIG. 56 includes aportable terminal (MU) 540 which is an optical payment unit and a RFterminal 550 for collecting a fare. The RF terminal 550 includes anoptical transceiver 551 for receiving and transmitting optical paymentinformation, a controller for controlling the operation of levying afare, and a recorder 553 for recording levying details. The recorder 533is fabricated separately in the form of a pack. The detailed structureof the RF terminal 550 is shown in FIG. 57. The FIG. 56 system includesa transfer terminal 542 connected to the recorder 553, for transferringthe levying details to a card company server 548 via a VAN companyserver 546. Here, the transfer terminal 542 uses an Internet connectiondevice or the dial-up VAN connection device shown in FIG. 54 or 55.

A customer riding a bus or taxi pays for a fare. In the case of anoptical payment, the customer uses the portable terminal 540 which is anoptical payment unit and transmits optical payment information towardthe optical transceiver 551 in the RF terminal 550. The opticaltransceiver 551 receives the optical payment information transmittedfrom the customer's portable terminal 540 having ridden the bus or taxiand transmits the received optical payment information to the controller552. In the case of a payment of an existing plastic card or an IC cardsuch as a traffic card which does not adopt an optical payment method, acustomer contacts a corresponding card to a RF card communicationsmodule 554 to transfer card information in the form of radio frequency.The RF card communications module 554 receives the transmitted RF cardinformation and transmits the received card information to thecontroller 552. The controller 552 checks whether the received cardinformation is valid. If card information is RF card information, thecontroller 552 checks a black list (B/L) stored in a B/L data storagemodule 555, and checks whether the card information is valid. If cardinformation is valid, the controller 552 displays the levying fare andthe remainder of the card on a display 557 via a user interface module556. Meanwhile, in the case of an optical payment, the controller 552need not check a black list separately. In the optical paymentsettlement system, the portable terminal which is a correspondingoptical payment unit checks a black list. In the optical paymentsettlement system, the controller 552 displays the levying fare and thecumulative amount on the display 557 via the user interface module 556.In addition, the controller records the levying details such as thecorresponding card information and amount in the recorder 553.

In order to read the above-described recorded information, anadministrator visits a place where the transfer terminal 542 isinstalled and separates the recorder 553 from the RF terminal 550, tothereby connect the separated recorder with the transfer terminal 542.The transfer terminal 542 reads the levying details from the connectedrecorder 553 and transmits the read result to the VAN company server546. The VAN company server 546 transmits the received levying detailsto the corresponding card company server 548.

Meanwhile, in the case of a subway, toll gate or kiosk, there isprovided a system central server, which plays a role of a collectiondevice or transfer terminal without adopting an additional collectiondevice or transfer terminal. Here, a case using the central server willbe described below.

FIG. 58 is a configuration view showing a subway fare automaticcollection system adopting an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention. A system shown in FIG. 58 includes aportable terminal (MU) 560 which is an optical payment unit and a RFterminal 570 installed in a subway gate. The RF terminal 570 includes anoptical transceiver 571 for transmitting and receiving optical paymentinformation, a controller 572 for controlling operation of levying asubway fare, and a recorder 573 for recording levying details. Thedetailed structure of the RF terminal 570 is shown in FIG. 59. The FIG.58 system also includes a collection server 562 for collecting levyingdetails of the recorder 573 disposed in each subway station andtransferring the same to a card company server 564 in a lump. Here, thecollection server 562 is a central server for linking each subwaystation and centrally controlling the same. Also, since a fare differsfor each subway section, information with respect to a boarding subwaystation is input into the portable terminal 560 using a bidirectionaloptical transceiver 571, so that an accurate fare can be levied at aget-off subway station.

The RF terminals 570 provided in the subway station entrance and exitare connected to a subway station central server via a terminal computercommunications module 576. In order to ride on a subway train, apassenger transmits optical card information to the optical transceiver571 in the RF terminal 570, using the card information incorporatedportable terminal 560. Then, the optical transceiver 571 transmits thereceived card information to the controller 572. The controller 572confirms whether the received card information is valid data of apredetermined protocol. If it is valid data, the controller 572transmits the departure station information and time information to theportable terminal 560 via the optical transceiver 571. The portableterminal 560 receives the departure station information transmitted fromthe optical transceiver 571 and temporarily stores the same therein. Thecontroller 572 controls the entrance and exit opening system to allowthe passenger to pass through the entrance and exit opening system andto ride on the subway train. When the passenger rides on the subwaytrain and arrives at a desired destination, he or she uses the portableterminal 560 in which the departure station information has been stored,and proceeds the get-off procedure. Here, the departure stationinformation together with the card information is transmitted to theoptical transceiver 571 in the RF terminal 570 provided in the entranceand exit opening system of the arrival station. The optical transceiver571 receives the departure station information together with the cardinformation transmitted from the portable terminal 560 and transmits thesame to the controller 572. The controller 572 checks whether thereceived card information is valid data of a predetermined protocol. Ifit is valid data, the controller 572 calculates a fare from thedeparture station to the arrival station and displays a calculatedamount and/or a used cumulative amount on a display 578 via a userinterface module 577. Also, the controller 572 records the levyingdetails such as the card information, transaction date, fare, andcumulative amount on the recorder 573.

The central server 562 being the collection server collects thetransaction details recorded in the recorder 573 in the RF terminal 570installed in each subway station, at every interval of period. Thecentral server 562 checks if the collected transaction details matchesthe transaction details recorded in the recorder 573. Then, if bothmatch, the central server 562 transmits the transaction details to acard company 564 and requests for an approval of settlement of the usedamount and then clears the recorded contents from the recorder 573.

Of course, the passenger can use a subway ticket which is anotherpayment ticket or uses a traffic card such as a plastic card or an ICcard to have it contact the RF card communications module 574 to settlethe payment.

Hereinbelow, a case that a phone number is used as an ID for a batchprocessing settlement system in a vending machine, a bus or a subwaywill be described.

FIG. 60 is a conceptual view showing an optical payment batch processingsettlement system using a phone number as an ID.

A user possessing a portable terminal 890 incorporated with an opticalpayment function selects a corresponding mobile communications companyas a credit transaction authority for taking a transaction actionrequiring a batch processing settlement. The user selects the mobilecommunications company 898 as a credit transaction authority in anoptical menu of the portable terminal 890, and then transmits a phonenumber and an authentication key registered in the portable terminal 890in the form of an infrared ray by means of manipulation of buttons. Anoptical receiver 892 installed in a vending machine, a bus, or a subwaystation receives a phone number and an authentication key from theportable terminal 890. The optical receiver 892 confirms the receivedauthentication key by using a decoding key and confirms whether thereceived phone number is an inherent number input at the time ofparticipating in the communications network using the confirmedauthentication key. If it is confirmed that the phone number is aninherent number, the optical receiver 892 approves the transactionaction and then keeps the transaction details in custody with aself-authentication program. The optical receiver 892 transmits thetransaction amount to the portable terminal 890 in the form of aninfrared ray. The portable terminal 890 cumulates the transmittedtransaction amount and keeps the cumulated result in a memory which canbe controlled by the mobile communications company 898. The portableterminal 890 can continue to take a credit transaction action within alimit determined by the mobile communications company 898. Meanwhile, anoperator transmits the stored transaction details to a collection center896. The collection center 896 totalizes the collected sales data andconverts the totalized sales data into purchase data for the mobilecommunications company 898, to then transfer the converted result to themobile communications company 898. The mobile communications company 898settles the purchase data and pays for the credit sales debts to thecollection center 896 according to a payment interval of period. If thedebts are paid for from the mobile communications company 898, thecollection center 896 pays for the credit sales debts to each affiliatedshop to be settled. The mobile communications company 898 charges forthe credit sales debts collected for a predetermined period in additionto a communications fee and sends a bill to the user at a date which isdetermined to be settled by the user. Since the user pays for the billedfees, such an optical payment settlement credit purchase is completed byusing a phone number as an ID.

Meanwhile, since the number of persons who use the Internet increasessharply, a commercial use of the Internet, that is, an electroniccommerce becomes quickly and widely spread. The electronic commerce usesa settlement system requiring a user to input card information such as auser name, card number, secret number, and a valid date on a browserprovided by a cyber shopping mall. The present invention is applied tothe electronic commerce so that a settlement processing can be performedwithout inputting card information each time.

FIG. 61 is a configuration view showing an electronic commerce systemadopting an optical payment settlement system according to the presentinvention. A system shown in FIG. 61 includes a mobile unit 581 used asan optical payment unit having an optical transmitter for opticallytransferring preset personal credit information, an optical receiver 582connected to an Internet connection terminal computer (PC) 583 forperforming an electronic commerce transaction, for receiving opticallytransmitted personal credit information and inputting the receivedcredit information to the PC 583, and a payment gateway 585 connected toa shopping mall 584, for performing a settlement processing. The opticalreceiver 582 receives only payment information transmitted in the formof an infrared ray (Ir) and transmits the received payment informationto an electronic commerce settlement program. Of course, Ir-transmittedpayment information and magnetic card information of a swapping methodcan be selectively received, by using an optical receiver including acard reader. Also, if an optical relay base unit is connected to the PC583 and an optical relay in which an optical receiver is attached isused, Ir-transmitted payment information and magnetic card informationof a swapping method which is transmitted via a mobile optical relay canbe selectively received. Here, the payment gateway 585 is an opticalpayment (Zoop™) dedicated gateway, and can be operated by the shoppingmall 584 or a separate service company. A VAN company 586 and a cardcompany 587 are connected to the optical payment dedicated gateway 585.In the FIG. 61 system having the above-described structure, an opticalpayment operation in the electronic commerce will be describedspecifically via FIG. 62.

A customer gains access to the shopping mall 584 by the computer 583connected to the Internet and searches products. Then, the customerdetermines purchase items and makes up an order sheet. Then, thecustomer selects a settlement method for settlement of a debt on ascreen and clicks the selected settlement method (step 591). Theshopping mall system 584 checks if the customer's selected settlementmethod is an optical payment settlement method (step 592). If thecustomer determines the payment by one of other settlement method otherthan the optical payment, a settlement procedure using the determinedsettlement method (step 593). There are an electronic money, an MS cardand so on as the settlement methods other than the optical payment. If apayment is an optical payment settlement, a customer uses a portableunit 581 which is an optical payment unit and transmits the cardinformation to the optical transmitter 582 connected to the computer 583(step 594). Since the optical payment unit has been described above, thedetailed description thereof will be omitted. The customer inputs asecret number which is known only by him or her and presses a settlementbutton, and then transmits card information necessary for settlement tothe optical receiver 582 attached to the Internet connection computer583, by using an optical communications method, in particular, aninfrared communications method. The optical receiver 582 received thetransmitted card information and converts it into the form which can beprocessed in the computer 583 so as to be input to the computer 583. Thecomputer 583 transmits the input card information to the shopping mallsystem 584. The shopping mall system 584 transmits the received cardinformation to the optical payment dedicated gateway 585. The opticalpayment dedicated gateway 585 having received the card informationperforms decoding and authenticating of the received card information(step 595). The optical payment dedicated gateway 585 checks whether theoptical payment settlement is authenticated from an authenticationserver (step 596). If it has been authenticated, the optical paymentdedicated gateway 585 requests for an approval to the VAN company 586 ordirectly to the card company 587. If it has not been authenticated, asettlement processing is performed by other payment methods (step 593).The optical payment dedicated gateway 585 checks an authenticationresult (step 597) and transmits the check result to the transactiongenerated shopping mall 584. When the shopping mall 584 is notified fromthe optical payment dedicated gateway 585 that the transaction isnormally approved, it notifies to a customer's browser that thetransaction is normally approved (step 598). Then, products purchased bythe corresponding customer are delivered within a determined deliverydate. If the shopping mall 584 is notified from the optical paymentdedicated gateway 585 that the transaction is not approved due to poorcreditability, an excess of limitation, or an illegal use, it notifiesto the customer's browser that the transaction is not approved (step599).

As described above, the optical settlement system according to thepresent invention can be applied to an electronic payment on thewireless Internet as well as that on the wired Internet.

FIG. 63 is a configuration view showing a wireless Internet-basedelectronic commerce system adopting an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention. A system shown in FIG. 63 isconfigured in the same structure as that of the FIG. 61 system. However,the FIG. 63 system is configured so that a settlement is performedbetween an optical payment portable unit 601 and a shopping mall system602 via a wireless Internet protocol. An optical payment operation inthe wireless Internet-based electronic commerce of the FIG. 63 systemhaving the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.64.

In the wireless Internet-based electronic commerce, the customer uses aterminal such as an Internet connectable portable phone or PDA as anoptical payment unit. The optical payment unit uses a micro-browsermounted portable phone terminal in which the micro-browser is acommercially available software program such as WAP/UP, ME, etc. Thecustomer gains access to the shopping mall 602 on the wireless Internetvia the wireless Internet connectable terminal 601 which is used as anoptical payment unit. The customer selects goods or services to bepurchased according to a menu provided from the shopping mall 602, andthen selects an optical payment settlement as a settlement method. Thecustomer uses an optical transmitter in the terminal 601 which is anoptical payment unit and optically transmits card informationincorporated in the terminal (step 611). Here, the customer inputs asecret number into the terminal 601. If the secret number is correct,the customer can access the card information. If not, the customercannot use the incorporated card information. When the customer inputsthe secret number into the terminal 601 and then presses a transmitbutton on a menu, the card information incorporated in the terminal 601is encoded and then transmitted to the shopping mall server 602 which iscurrently connected on the wireless Internet. The shopping mall server602 confirms the transmitted card information. If the transmitted cardinformation is normally received, the shopping mall server 602 sends areception message to the customer's terminal, while if not, the formersends a re-transmission requesting message to the customer's terminal601 and displays the re-transmission requesting message on thecustomer's terminal screen to thereby make the customer check if thecard information has been normally transmitted (step 612). If the cardinformation has not been transmitted, the customer manipulates theterminal 601 again and re-transmits the card information (step 613). Ifit is checked that the card information has been normally received instep 611, the shopping mall server 602 transmits the encoded cardinformation to the optical payment dedicated gateway 604 (step 614).Here, the optical payment dedicated gateway 604 is a separately existingpayment gateway server in order to decode only data which has beenstored in the terminal and then encoded and transmitted, in addition topayment information processed in a general key-in method. The reason whythe optical payment dedicated gateway 604 is provided in comparison withthe general payment gateway 603 is because the optically transmitteddata is encoded and thus cannot be decoded in the general paymentgateway server 603. The optical payment dedicated gateway 604 receivesthe settlement information transmitted via the shopping mall system 602and decodes it into an original prior-to-being-encoded state. Then, theoptical payment dedicated gateway 604 requests for an approval to a bank606 or a card company 608 which is a settlement authority through anauthentication procedure (step 615). Here, a dedicated network 605 or607 of X.25 is connected between the optical payment dedicated gateway604 and the corresponding settlement authority 606 or 608. The opticalpayment dedicated gateway server 604 checks if an approval has been donefrom the corresponding settlement authority such as the bank 606 or cardcompany 608 (step 616). If an approval has been done, the opticalpayment dedicated gateway server 604 notifies the shopping mall 602 thatthe payment has been completed and the customer that the settlement hasbeen completed (step 617). If an approval has not been done in theresult of checking of step 616, the optical payment dedicated gatewayserver 604 notifies the customer via the shopping mall 602 that thesettlement has been rejected, to thereby allow the customer to use othersettlement methods (step 618).

FIG. 65 is an operational flowchart view in the case that the FIG. 61electronic commerce system is applied in a general store. A systemadopting the FIG. 65 method transmits optical payment information inreal-time via an electronic commerce optical receiver 582 connected to aPC 583 in a general store connected to the Internet, for processingvarious settlement approval items.

A customer determines a purchase item and selects a settlement method ina store counter (step 621). The system checks if the customer's selectedsettlement method is an optical payment settlement (step 622). If thecustomer's settlement method is an optical payment settlement, thecustomer uses a portable terminal 581 which is an optical payment unit,and transmits card information to the electronic commerce opticalreceiver 582 attached to a PC 583 in the store (step 623). The cardinformation includes a secret number and a settlement command. If thecustomer's settlement method is not an optical payment settlement, thecustomer performs a settlement processing in cash or with other paymentmethods such as a magnetic card (step 624). The PC 583 plays a role of aWeb-POS and encodes the received card information and transmits it tothe optical payment dedicated gateway 585 in order to request for anapproval. The optical payment dedicated gateway 585 decodes the cardinformation received via the Internet into an originalprior-to-being-encoded state, and proceeds to an authenticationprocedure (step 625). The optical payment dedicated gateway 585 checksif an optical payment settlement is authenticated from an authenticationserver (step 626). If the optical payment settlement is authenticated,the optical payment dedicated gateway 585 requests for an approval to aVAN company 586 or directly to a card company 587. If not, a settlementprocessing is performed with other payment methods (step 624). Theoptical payment dedicated gateway 585 checks if an approval has beendone (step 627). If an approval has been normally done, the opticalpayment dedicated gateway 585 notifies the browser of the Web-POS 583connected via the Internet that an approval has been normally done (step628). If a normal approval has been notified, the shopping mall handsover to the customer the products purchased by the customer. If anapproval has not been done due to poor creditability, an excess oflimitation and an illegal use, the optical payment dedicated gateway 585notifies the browser of the Web-POS 583 that the transaction has notbeen approved (step 629).

An authentication unit is needed in order to prevent an illegal use ofpayment information in an optical payment commerce. As shown in FIG. 66,an optical payment unit, an affiliated store and a card company in thepresent invention includes an authentication unit, respectively. Also,when all these authentication units are combined with one another, thecard information can be used as significant payment information. A user631 purchases services or goods in an affiliated store and inputs his orher own controlled password into an optical payment unit in order to payfor the purchased services or goods, which can prevent others fromaccessing. An optical payment receiver installed in an affiliated store632 analyzes the received signal and ascertains a contracted index tableand communicates with each other to thereby control an access toservices. The affiliated store 632 adds an affiliated store ID assignedto a credit card inquiry machine 633 installed in the affiliated storeto credit information to then transmit the affiliated store ID addedcredit information to a card company 634, and has an approval requestright assigned to the affiliated store 632. The card company 634compares the card number transmitted via the credit card inquiry machine633 and the VAN network and the authentication number transmittedtogether with the card number to thereby judge if the card is a cardissued by a card company 634 and thus have an approval right. An opticalpayment dedicated gateway 635 existing between the card company 634 andthe affiliated store 632 includes a self-authentication table to have anauthentication right with respect to an optical payment settlement.

The secret number for authentication of a user in a portable terminalwhich is an optical payment unit can be exposed to others. Thus, thesecret number is combined with user's bio-identification informationsuch as the iris, face, footprint, voice, etc. In this embodiment, auser authentication using a secret number and face recognition data willbe described below.

FIGS. 67A and 67B are views for explaining a process of registering userfacial data in a portable terminal initially, respectively. A portableterminal 641 shown in FIG. 67A is attached with a camera 642 forphotographing a user. The portable terminal 641 contains a program forextracting facial data from a user image photographed and obtained inthe camera 642 and storing the extracted facial data, and then comparingthe stored facial data with facial data of a person who uses theportable terminal.

In FIG. 67B, a user manipulates a menu on a portable terminal 641 suchas a portable phone and a PDA and sets the portable terminal 641 into asecret number input mode. In the secret number input mode, the userinputs a secret number for accessing his or her own payment informationinto the portable terminal 641 (step 641). After inputting a secretnumber, the user re-inputs the secret number into the portable terminal641 (step 641). If the twice sequentially input secret numbers matcheach other, the portable terminal 641 proceeds to a facial data inputmode automatically. In the facial data input mode, the user approacheshis or her own face to the camera 642 attached to the portable terminal641 and selects a confirmation button (step 643). If the confirmationbutton is selected, the portable terminal 641 takes a picture of theuser's face via the camera 642 and then displays the photographed faceon the screen together with a completion indication (step 644). If thephotograph is not satisfied, the user presses a cancel button andperforms the facial data input accessing his or her own paymentinformation into the portable terminal 641 (step 641). After inputting asecret number, the user re-inputs the secret number into the portableterminal 641 (step 641). If the twice sequentially input secret numbersmatch each other, the portable terminal 641 proceeds to a facial datainput mode automatically. In the facial data input mode, the userapproaches his or her own face to the camera 642 attached to theportable terminal 641 and selects a confirmation button (step 643). Ifthe confirmation button is selected, the portable terminal 641 takes apicture of the user's face via the camera 642 and then displays thephotographed face on the screen together with a completion indication(step 644). If the photograph is not satisfied, the user presses acancel button and performs the facial data input procedure again.

A user authentication will be described in the case of the portableterminal 641 in which facial data has been input through the aboveprocedure.

FIG. 68A is a view for explaining a user authentication process in thefacial data contained portable terminal 641. FIG. 68B is a flowchartview for explaining a user authentication process in the facial datacontained portable terminal.

A user selects a settlement mode in the portable terminal 641 and thenpresses a confirmation button in order to access his or her own paymentinformation (step 651). If the portable terminal 641 is selected at asettlement mode, it displays a message for requesting the user to inputa secret number on a screen as shown in FIG. 68A. Here, the user inputsa secret number. Then, the portable terminal 641 displays a message forrequesting the user to approach his or her face to the camera 642 on thescreen for facial recognition. Then, the user approaches his or her faceto the camera 642 and then presses a confirmation button. If theconfirmation button is pressed, the portable terminal 641 drives thecamera 642 and the driving program, to photograph the user's face (step652). When the user's face is completely photographed, the photographedfacial data is analyzed and compared with the initially registereduser's facial data (step 653). Here, if a probability error incomparison is accurate within the range of about 30%, the photographedfacial data is processed in the same as the previously registered facialdata. The reason is because data extracted from the facial shape hassome errors according to the age or condition of the user. Thus, a casethat a user is not recognized as the person in question according to thecondition at that time although he or she is the person in question isavoided. If an in-person authentication is completed through the aboveprocedure, an access to the payment information incorporated in theportable terminal 641 is accomplished. In the case that an error isabove 30%, the program is performed again from the initial menuselection step. Then, in the case that the facial data does not matchmore than three times, the payment information is automatically stoppedand a report of the loss of the corresponding portable terminal issubmitted.

Next, additional services such as change in card information,termination/stoppage/loss of the card, and transaction suspension forthe optical payment settlement system according to the present inventionwill be described.

FIG. 69 shows a card information change service system provided in anoptical payment settlement system according to the present invention.FIG. 70 is a flowchart view in the FIG. 69 card information changeservice system provided in an optical payment settlement systemaccording to the present invention.

If an alteration cause of card information such as an address, a secretnumber, a contact address, and a bill recipient place occurs, a cardmember 661 requests for an alteration of the card information by phone,via wired or wireless Internet, or by paying a direct visit of acorresponding card company 663 or a relayer 662 (step 671). The relayer662 having received the card information alteration application, demandson data for ascertaining the applicant is the card member 661 in person,and ascertains the contents of the card information to be changed andthe card company of the card to be changed. The relayer 662 applies foran alteration of the card information by proxy of the card member 661via the dedicated line with respect to the card company 663 in question(step 672). Here, the relayer 662 transmits authentication datanecessary for identifying the person in question such as part of asecret number, a residence number and final sales approval details, tothe card company 663, together with the card information alterationapplication. The card company 663 verifies whether the receivedapplication is an application applied by the person in question, withthe in-person authentication data transmitted from the relayer 662. Inthe case that the card member 661 applies for an application ofalteration of the card information to a corresponding card company, thecard company 663 receives the in-person authentication data from thecard member 661. If it has been checked that the applicant is a personin charge, the card company 663 compares the card information in amember computerized sheet registered in the card company server 663 withthe card information to be changed (step 673). In the result ofcomparison of step 673, if both of the card information coincide witheach other, the card company 663 notifies the relayer 662 that there isno change matter in the card information. The relayer 662 transmits thenotified contents of the card company 663 to the card member 661 in theform of a wireless data format. In the result of comparison of step 673,if both of the card information do not coincide with each other, thecard company 663 changes the card information contents on the membercomputer recording sheet upon request of the member (step 674). When thecard information change is completed, the card company 663 notifies therelayer 662 that the card information has been completely changed. Therelayer 662 transmits a message of “card information change completion”to a card substitute portable phone of a corresponding card memberaccording to the notification of the card company (step 675). The cardsubstitute portable phone carried by the card member displays the cardinformation change completion message on its screen and informs the userthat the card information has been changed (step 676). Thus, when theother person tries to change the card information illegally, the cardholder can ascertain the illegal card information change.

Meanwhile, in the case that the card holder is registered as a person ofpoor credit due to theft or loss of the card, or the card use money inarrears, the card transaction needs to be suspended. In this case, thereare two existing methods for checking the card transaction suspension.One method is to manage black list (B/L) information with respect tocards which need to be suspended for their transactions from the cardcompany server in the case that the cards need to be suspended for theirtransactions and check whether the card is suspended if a cardtransaction approval request is received from an affiliated store. Theother method is to download black list (B/L) information in package froma card company server by wire and store the downloaded B/L informationin a card reader installed in a subway ticket gate or a bus ticket gateduring use of subway or bus, and compare the input card information withthe stored B/L information. In the case of these methods, it takes longtime to check a B/L and burdens the subway or bus card reader to storeB/L data. Thus, in the case of a card which needs to suspendtransactions, the card company transmits transaction suspensioninformation to a portable phone which is used as an optical payment unitin the form of a wireless data format using a mobile communicationsmethod and registers the transaction suspension information in theportable phone, to thereby prevent the portable phone from being used asthe optical payment unit. This process is shown in FIG. 71.

FIG. 71 shows a card dealing suspension system according to the presentinvention. The system shown in FIG. 71 includes a card member 681, acard company 682, a relayer 683 and a mobile communications network 684.The card member 681 purchases a portable wireless communicationsterminal such as a portable phone and a PDA for financial settlement andparticipates as a card member in a card company. The card company 682includes companies each issuing a direct payment card, a advance paymentcard, a credit card and an electronic money. The relayer 683 is acompany which provides card information and other financial informationto the card member 681 upon agreement of the card member 681 in whichthe relayer 683 contracts with the card company 682 and other financialauthorities. The mobile communications network 684 is a network fortransmitting data to particular wired or wireless communicationsterminals designated by the relayer 683 via a dedicated line from therelayer 683 by the contract between the mobile communications companyand the relayer 683. In this system, operations of registering B/L datafor registering transaction suspension of cards having a transactionsuspension causes in a terminal carried by the card member andsuspending the transactions will be described in detail with referenceto FIGS. 72 and 73.

FIG. 72 is a flowchart view for explaining a card B/L registrationmethod in the FIG. 71 system. FIG. 73 is a flowchart view for explaininga card dealing suspension method in the FIG. 71 system.

If a customer applies withdrawal or stoppage of a card (step 691) or isregistered as a person of poor credit called a B/L person in the resultof a credit estimation in the card company 682 (step 692), it is judgedwhether the card is a card incorporated in the portable phone or PDA(step 693). If the card is a card incorporated in the portable terminalin the result of judgement of step 693, the card company 682 ascertainsa phone number of the portable terminal having an incorporated card(step 694), the card suspension information is transmitted to therelayer 683 via the dedicated line (step 695). The relayer 683 calls acorresponding portable terminal 681 by the ascertained phone number viathe mobile communications network 684 and transmits the transactionsuspension information (step 696). Here, the transaction suspensioninformation is transmitted in the form of a wireless data format. Thecorresponding portable terminal 681 receives the transaction suspensioninformation and registers the B/L data in a memory incorporated thereinor card information stored in the detachable IC card (step 697). Theportable terminal 681 having received the transaction suspensioninformation sends a response signal to the card company 682 and enablesthe card company 682 to judge whether the transaction suspensioninformation is normally input. The card company 682 judges whether thetransaction suspension information is input in the portable terminal 681normally (step 698), and if the transaction suspension information isnot input normally, the card company 682 repeatedly performs the stepsstarting from step 696 so that the card transaction suspensioninformation is re-transmitted. Meanwhile, if the card is not a portablecard in the result of judgement of step 693, the card company 682processes in the same manner as the existing card (step 698). That is,the card transaction suspension information is registered in the cardcompany approval server.

The method for suspending the transactions during a card substitute useof the portable terminal 681 registered as the B/L data will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 73.

When the card substitute portable terminal 681 holder presses a creditcard use button of the portable terminal 681 and transmits the creditinformation in order to pay for cost of the service (step 701), acontroller in the portable terminal 681 ascertains whether the card isregistered as B/L card (step 702). If the card is registered as the B/Ldata, the controller in the portable terminal 681 rejects thetransaction by display of an error message on a display screen in theportable terminal 681 (step 704) and completes the program. If the cardis not registered as B/L data in the result of ascertainment of step702, the portable terminal 681 transmits the incorporated creditinformation to the card information reception portion (step 703) andcompletes the program.

With the above transaction suspension method, in a petty cashtransaction performed without approval of transaction, that is, traffictransactions in facilities such as paid roads, buses, subways, andparking rots, vending machines, and a small-money electronic commerce, aB/L check is performed in the card substitute portable terminal duringuse of the credit card with the portable terminal. Accordingly, theprocessing speed of the card substitute portable terminal is faster thanthat of comparing the B/L data downloaded from the card company serverin package by wire in a card reader one by one, and the system runningcost of the former is cheaper than that of the latter. informationrepresenting that the card has been lost, to the card company 713 exceptfor the cards which are not lost by the card member among the extractedcard numbers, together with the in-person authentication information viathe dedicated line (step 723). The card company 713 ascertains thein-person authentication information among the received information tothereby ascertain that the card holder is a true card possessor. In thiscase, the card company 713 records the transaction suspension due to theloss of the card in a computer DB 714, and transmits the transmits therecorded information to the relayer 712 (step 724). The relayer 712transmits the transaction suspension information received from the cardcompany 713 to a wireless terminal 711 designated by the card member inthe form of a wireless data format (step 725). The wireless terminal 711displays the transaction suspension completion due to loss on a displayscreen and makes the card member see that the loss of card is declaredand processes (step 726). If the displayed contents are not correct, thecard member appeals the card company 713 or the relayer 712 (step 727).

As such, if the card transaction suspension is performed due to the cardloss, the payment information transmission of the lost portable terminalis stopped. Also, the communications function of the portable terminalcan be stopped through the mobile communications company, to therebymake the portable terminal disabled.

By the way, the illegal use of the card having occurred before declaringthe card loss or theft is not easily accepted by the card companyalthough an appeal is filed by the card member, which causes a dispute.In order to prevent such a dispute in advance, a method for transferringtransaction details by use of various payment information incorporatedin the portable terminal to a user portable terminal is proposed in thepresent invention.

FIG. 76 is a configuration view showing a use details wireless transfersystem provided in an optical payment settlement system according to thepresent invention. FIG. 77 is a flowchart view for explaining anoperation in the FIG. 76 use details wireless transfer system.

A customer purchases goods or services in an affiliated store (step741), and payment information for optical settlement is transmitted.Then, a card inquiry machine 732 sends an approval request to a cardcompany 733. The card company 733 checks remainder limitation andtransaction suspension of the approval requested card. If there is noabnormality, the approval signal is transmitted to the card inquirymachine 732 (step 742). Also, the card company 733 ascertains whether amember of an approval requested card number is a member who applies forreceiving approval details wirelessly (step 743). If it is ascertainedthat the member of the card number is a member who does not apply forreceiving the approval details, the program is completed. If it isascertained that the member of the card number is a member who appliesfor receiving the approval details, and the approval is a firstlygenerated approval after application of the approval, it is ascertainedwhether the card member is a possessor of a wireless data transceiver731 such as a portable phone, a PDA, and a beeper through which the cardmember wishes to receive the approval details via the dedicated lineconnected to a mobile communications company 755 (step 744). If it isascertained that the card member is a possessor of the mobile datatransceiver 731, the card company 733 transmits the approved detailssuch as a sales generated time, sales amount, affiliated store name, andpart of the card number to a relayer 734 via the dedicated line (step745). The relayer 734 uses a communications network 736 of the mobilecommunications company 735 and transmits the approved detailstransmitted from the card company 733 by e-mail or by a wirelesstransmission method (step 746). The wireless data transceiver 731designated to receive the approved details by the card member receivesand records the approved details by e-mail, wireless data transmissionmethod, or WAP (step 747), displays the approved details on a screen toreceive a confirmation from the card member (step 748). If approveddetails are transmitted to his or her wireless data transceiver 731,although he or she does not use the card, the card member appeals thatsuch sales are illegal sales to the relayer 734 or the card company 733and requests for taking a proper action (step 749). If such an appeal israised, the relayer 734 transmits the appeal information to the cardcompany 733, immediately. The card company 733 starts to investigate thereceived appeal (step 750).

In addition, the present invention presents a system for leasing anoptical payment unit and settling all purchase-related amount. This ismore effective if the rental service of the optical payment unit isapplied to a business place for an attendance as in a theme park.

FIG. 78 is a block diagram showing a settlement system using a rentaltype optical payment unit according to the present invention. A systemshown in FIG. 78 includes an optical transmitter 750, a counter terminal754 for registering rental and return of the optical transmitter 750, acalculation terminal 760 for inputting a transaction amount in which anoptical receiver 762 is attached, and a main computer 752 forascertaining an inherent number input from the calculation terminal 760and the transaction amount and performing settlement of the transactionamount. Here, the optical transmitter 750 employs an IC chip in which aninherent number is registered therein, and converts the inherent numberregistered in the IC chip into an optical signal to then transmit theoptical signal. Also, the optical transmitter 750 is fabricated into aportable size so that a user carries it conveniently. The calculationterminal 760 is located in a calculation stand in a restaurant or stallwhich sells food or goods, and is attached with the optical receiver762. The counter terminal 754 is installed in an entrance and exit gatein a game resort, etc., or in a predetermined place in the game resort,and is attached with an optical receiver 756 and a card reader 758 forascertaining credit card information. An operation of the settlementsystem using a rental type optical payment unit of FIG. 77 having theabove configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.79 to 82.

If a user wishes to use an optical settlement system of the presentinvention when the user enters a game resort such as a theme park or ina zoo, or after entrance there, the user goes to a rental counterlocated in the entrance and exit gate or park, for leasing the opticaltransmitter 750, and requests for rental of the optical transmitter 750(step 761). The user can select his or her desired settlement method(step 762), in which there are a prepaid type for depositing apredetermined amount of money and a credit card type using a credit cardas a settlement method. If a user selects a prepaid settlement method,the user deposits an amount of money to be consumed and a guaranteemoney of the optical transmitter 750 (step 763). A clerk in the counterselects one among various optical transmitters 750 which are kept incustody and then transmits an inherent number registered in the IC chipincorporated in the optical transmitter 750 toward the optical receiver756 attached to the counter terminal 754. The optical receiver 756receives the inherent number transmitted from the optical transmitter750 and outputs the same to the counter terminal 754 (step 764). Theclerk key-inputs an amount of the user deposited and consumable moneyinto the inherent number of the optical transmitter 750 which is inputinto the counter terminal 764 (step 765). Then, the correspondingoptical transmitter 750 becomes an enabling state which can be used bythe user and the key input value is input to the main computer 752. Theclerk ascertains the usable state via the counter terminal 754 and thenrents the optical transmitter 750 to the user (step 766).

If a user selects a credit card settlement method in step 762, thecarried credit card is presented to a clerk in the counter (step 767).The clerk puts the credit card into a card reader 758 attached to thecounter terminal 754 and registers the credit card information of theuser into the counter terminal 754 (step 768). Then, an inherent numberof an optical transmitter 750 to be rent to the user is input into thecounter terminal 754 in the same manner as that of the prepaidsettlement method (step 769), and matches the inherent number with thecredit card information (step 770). Then, the corresponding opticaltransmitter 750 becomes a usable state and the state value is input tothe main computer 752. Then, the clerk ascertains the input results andrents the optical transmitter 750 to the user (step 766).

FIG. 80 is a flowchart view for explaining a settlement process in theFIG. 78 system.

When a user rents an optical transmitter 750 and then wishes to go to arestaurant or purchases goods, a clerk in the restaurant or storekey-inputs a transaction amount into the calculation terminal 760 (step771). Then, the user transmits the inherent number of the carriedoptical transmitter 750 toward the optical receiver 762 attached to thecalculation terminal 760, so that the inherent number is input into thecalculation terminal 760 (step 772). the main computer 752 receives thetransaction amount of money and the inherent number of the opticaltransmitter 750 from the calculation terminal 760 and checks asettlement method (step 773). If the settlement method is a prepaidtype, the main computer 752 subtracts the transaction amount of moneyfrom the usable amount of money and settles the transaction amount ofmoney (step 774). The main computer 752 outputs a usable remainderamount of money to the calculation terminal 760 and the calculationterminal 760 displays the usable remainder amount of money andsimultaneously outputs a receipt (step 775). If the settlement method isa credit card type, the main computer 752 accumulates the transactionamount of money and settles the accumulated amount of money (step 776).The main computer 752 outputs a current total of transaction amount ofmoney to the calculation terminal 760, and the calculation terminaldisplays the total transaction amount of money and simultaneouslyoutputs a receipt (step 777).

FIG. 81 is a flowchart view for explaining a return process of anoptical transmitter 750. When a user who rents an optical transmitter750 leaves a theme park, the rent optical transmitter 750 is returned. aclerk in the rental and return counter receives the optical transmitter750 from the user and then transmits the inherent number of the opticaltransmitter 750 to the optical receiver 756 attached to the counterterminal 754 to input a return state (step 781). Then, the settlementmethod is selected (step 782). In the case of a prepaid settlementmethod, the main computer 752 ascertains an amount of money remaining inthe corresponding inherent number in response to the input return signaland then outputs the ascertained result to the counter terminal 754(step 783). The clerk refunds the ascertained amount of remainder moneyand the guarantee money of the optical transmitter 750 to the user andthe transmits a return completion signal to the main computer 752 (step784). The main computer 752 aligns the return database in response tothe return completion signal (step 785). Meanwhile, in the case of thecredit card type, the return process is much simpler than that of theprepaid type. The main computer 752 outputs a total amount oftransaction money of the corresponding inherent number to the counterterminal 754 in response to the input return signal (step 786), and thecounter terminal 754 automatically outputs a card bill with respect tothe total amount of transaction money (step 787). The return state ofthe optical transmitter 750 is indicated on the card bill. Here, themain computer 752 aligns the return database immediately (step 785).

FIG. 82 is a flowchart view for explaining a non-return process of anoptical transmitter 750. When all attendance leave and a predeterminedtime elapses, the main computer 752 compares the rental database withthe return database with respect to the rental optical transmitters 750and ascertains a list of the non-return optical transmitters 750 (step791). Then, a settlement method is checked (step 792). In the case of aprepaid type, the main computer 752 ascertains an amount of remaindermoney of the inherent number of the non-return optical transmitter 750(step 793), and registers the corresponding inherent number in a prepaidtype loss database (step 794). Then, when the non-return opticaltransmitter 750 is returned (step 795), the amount of remainder moneyregistered in the prepaid loss database is returned (step 796), and thereturn database is aligned (step 797). In the case of the credit cardtype, the main computer 752 ascertains the final amount of thetransaction money of the non-return inherent number (step 798), and addsthe amount of money of the optical transmitter 750 to the ascertainedamount of transaction money and aligns the credit card bill (step 799).Then, the main computer 752 registers the corresponding inherent numberin the credit card type loss database (step 800). If the lost opticaltransmitter 750 is returned (step 801), only the amount of charged moneyof the optical transmitter 750 is refund (step 802), and the returndatabase is aligned (step 797). In order to reduce the non-return of theoptical transmitter 750, a method can be used that a predeterminedamount of penalty money should be paid in the case of the non-returnaccording to a contract with the rental users.

The above-described rental concept can be extended to an overseas use aswell as a domestic use. Although such a system for embodying an opticalpayment settlement method is not described specifically, it can beunderstood by one skilled in the art based on the present invention.

Meanwhile, although the above-described embodiments have been describedonly with respect to a financial transaction system, the presentinvention can be applied to a system requiring an entrance and exitsecurity management such as in a company or governmental office. Aconventional entrance and exit security system chiefly uses anon-contact type RF-ID card. The conventional non-contact RF-ID cardrelies on imported components, and the size of the maximum data whichcan be stored is limited to 96 bits. The conventional non-contact RF-IDcard requires a separate device for issuing cards. Also, in order toenter and exit various offices controlling entrance and exit of persons,the persons should additionally carry the cards as many as the number ofthe offices to enter and exit. Thus, the present invention inputspersonal identification information including a name, an employeenumber, a in-service department into a personal portable terminal suchas a portable phone and a PDA containing an optical transceiver. Thepersonal identification information contained portable terminal is usedas a personal identification unit, which substitutes a card for anentrance and exit security system.

FIG. 83 is a configuration view showing an entrance/exit security systemusing an optical transceiver according to the present invention. Asystem shown in FIG. 83 includes an optical transceiver 800 which is apersonal identification unit and an entrance/exit optical receiver 810attached to the entrance/exit gate, for receiving an inherent IDoptically transmitted from the optical transceiver 800. The inherent IDis personal identification information. A controller 820 is connected tothe optical receiver 810 and adds necessary information of theentrance/exit gate identification information to the received inherentID to thereby transmit the added result to a central controller 822. Thecentral controller 822 includes a controlling DB where inherent IDs withrespect to the admitted visitors are registered. An operation ofcontrolling the entrance/exit in the FIG. 83 system having the aboveconfiguration, will be described through FIGS. 84 and 85.

A user's entrance/exit information should be input to the centralcontroller 822, in order to enter and exit an entrance/exit gate. Inthis process, the optical transceiver 800 is directed toward the opticalreceiver 824 connected to the central controller 822 and then inherentID input in the optical transceiver 800 is optically transmitted. Theoptical receiver 824 receives the inherent ID transmitted from theoptical transceiver 800 and transmits the same to the central controller822. The central controller 822 registers the transmitted inherent ID ina DB.

At the state where the inherent ID has been registered, a visitormanipulates a menu on the portable terminal 800 which is a personalidentification unit and selects an entrance/exit mode (step 811). Afterselecting the entrance/exit mode, the visitor manipulates a keypad onthe portable terminal 800 and inputs a secret number in response to arequest for an input of the secret number (step 812). The portableterminal 800 checks if the input secret number is correct (step 813). Ifthe secret number is correct, the portable terminal 800 is convertedinto an entrance/exit information transfer mode. If the visitor pressesa transfer button at the entrance/exit information transfer mode, theentrance/exit information is optically transmitted via the opticaltransceiver of the portable terminal 800. If the optically transmittedentrance/exit information is information registered in the DB of thecentral controller 822, the entrance/exit gate is open and admitted forentrance (step 814). If the secret number is not correct or theentrance/exit information does not coincide with the pre-menu on theportable terminal 800 which is a personal identification unit andselects an entrance/exit mode (step 811). After selecting theentrance/exit mode, the visitor manipulates a keypad on the portableterminal 800 and inputs a secret number in response to a request for aninput of the secret number (step 812). If the secret number is input,the portable terminal 800 is converted into an entrance/exit informationtransfer mode. If the visitor presses a transfer button at theentrance/exit information transfer mode (step 813), the entrance/exitinformation is optically transmitted via the optical transceiver of theportable terminal 800. If the optically transmitted entrance/exitinformation is information registered in the DB of the centralcontroller 822, the entrance/exit gate is open and admitted for entrance(step 814). If the secret number is not correct or the entrance/exitinformation does not coincide with the pre-registered information, thesteps starting from step 811 will be resumed.

Meanwhile, if the entrance/exit information is received (step 821), theoptical receiver 810 attached to the entrance/exit gate decodes thereceived information and then transmits the decoded result to thecontroller 820 (step 822). The controller 820 adds necessary informationincluding entrance/exit identification information to the receivedinformation so that it can be identified whether the receivedinformation is information transmitted from which entrance/exit gate,and transmits the added result to the central controller 822 (step 823).The central controller 822 searches the DB and judges whether thereceived information is an entrance/exit admitted personal informationregistered in the DB (step 824). If the user is an unregistered person,the central controller 822 takes no action in response to the inputinformation and thus the entrance/exit gate is not open. If the user isa registered person who is admitted for entrance/exit, the centralcontroller 822 transmits an entrance/exit gate opening signal to thecontroller 820 corresponding to the entrance/exit gate to which theentrance/exit information is transmitted (step 825). The controller 820having received the entrance/exit gate opening signal opens theentrance/exit gate by an operation (step 826).

A function of storing or transmitting an actual monetary value is addedin a portable terminal incorporated with an optical transceiver, tothereby allow the portable terminal to give and take the monetary valuewith a cash input and output machine (ATM) or a portable terminal of theother person in real-time, Also, when a user pays for transaction moneyin a general store, it is preferable that a monetary value can betransmitted from the in-person portable terminal to a portable terminalof a seller or a card reader attached with an optical receiver, inreal-time.

FIG. 86 is a configuration view showing a real-time value transferableelectronic money system according to the present invention. a user of aportable terminal 830A attached with an optical transceiver receives apredetermined amount of money from a cashier machine 840A attached withan optical receiver 842 in the form of an electronic money. The usertransmits the electronic money received in the portable terminal 830A tothe other cashier machine 840B or a portable terminal 830B of the otherperson or a card reader 860 connected with an optical receiver 862 in ageneral store.

First of all, a case that the electronic money is withdrawn from thecashier machine 840A will be described.

FIG. 87 shows configuration of display screens when an electronic moneyis withdrawn from a cash withdrawal machine 840A such as an ATM. FIG. 88is a flowchart view for explaining an operation when an electronic moneyis withdrawn from a cash withdrawal machine 840A such as an ATM.

A user selects a cashier machine 840A on a menu screen (a) of FIG. 87 ofthe in-person portable terminal (step 851). Then, on the screen of theportable terminal 830A is displayed a message for asking a secret numberas shown in the screen (b) of FIG. 87. If the user inputs the secretnumber, the portable terminal 830A checks if the input secret number isa correct secret number (step 852). If the input secret number iscorrect, the portable terminal 830A displays a message for selecting theand displays the in-process operation. The ATM 840A pays for acorresponding amount of money in cash after an approval processing, andmakes the user withdraw the cash (step 857). If the user selects theelectronic money in step 853, the ATM 840A asks the user of how muchmoney the user wishes to receive. The user inputs a desired amount ofmoney in the ATM 840A manually (step 858), and stands by. The ATM 840Adisplays a in-process message on the screen and then displays atransmission preparation completion message on the screen. Then, theuser presses an “execution” button among selection options of the moneyreception displayed on the menu of the portable terminal 830A shown inthe screen (d) of FIG. 87. The portable terminal 830A checks if themoney transfer execution button is pressed (step 859). When the“execution” button is pressed, the money as much as the input amount ofmoney input from the ATM 840 a is transmitted to the portable terminal830A. Here, on the screen of the portable terminal 830A is displayed anin-reception, a reception completion and a transmitted m\amount of moneyin turn. At the same time, on the screen of the ATM 840A id displayed atransmission completion message. The user ascertains the received amountof money after the monetary value is transmitted from the ATM 840A (step860). Here, if the received money is correct, the transfer of themonetary value is completed. If the received money is not correct, thetransfer thereof is resumed from the initial step.

In the following, an electronic money exchange between portableterminals will be described.

FIG. 89 shows configuration of display screens when an electronic moneyis exchanged between portable terminals. FIG. 90 is a flowchart view forexplaining an operation when an electronic money is exchanged betweenportable terminals.

A provider and a receiver respectively select a cash transfer and a cashreception at a menu screen on the portable terminal 830A or 830B, asshown in the screen (a) in FIG. 89 (step 891A or 891B). Then, theportable terminal 830A or 830B displays the screen so that onetransferable object can be selected among the portable terminal of azoop phone and the ATM machine as shown in the screen (b) of FIG. 89.Both the provider and the receiver select the transferable object usingthe portable terminal (step 892A or 892B). If the transferable object isselected, the corresponding portable terminal 830A or 830B displays thescreen for asking the secret number as shown in the screen (c) of FIG.89. If both the provider and the receiver input the respective secretnumbers, the portable terminal 830A or 830B checks if the input secretnumber is correct (step 893A or 893B). If the input secret number iscorrect, the provider inputs an amount of money to be transmitted (step894A). Here, the receiver stands by to receive the money (step 894B),and the portable terminal 830A displays the reception stand-by on thescreen as shown in the screen (d) of FIG. 89. If the remittance amountof money is input, the provider portable terminal 830A displays thescreen so that the money transfer execution is selected. If the moneytransfer execution is selected, the provider portable terminal 830Atransmits the electronic money to the receiver portable terminal 830Bwhich stands by for reception at the same time (step 895A). Here, thereceiver portable terminal 830B receives the transmitted electronicmoney (step 895B). Each of the provider and receiver portable terminals830A and 830B display the screen indicating the transmission andreception states as shown in the screen (e) of FIG. 89 duringtransmission and reception. The provider and receiver portable terminals830A and 830B check the transmission and reception completion (steps896A and 896B), respectively. If the transmission and reception iscompleted, the transmitted and received money is displayed andascertains the amount of money (steps 897A and 897B). In this case, theremainder money is displayed together. At this state, a confirmationbutton is pressed to terminate an electronic money exchange.

In the following, an electronic money payment using a portable terminalin a general commerce will be described.

FIG. 91 shows configuration of display screens in the case of payment ofan electronic money using a portable terminal. FIG. 92 is a flowchartview for explaining an operation in the case of payment of an electronicmoney using a portable terminal.

When a user who possesses a portable terminal 830A incorporated anelectronic money purchases goods or services in a general store, andthen intends to pay for the transaction money with the electronic money,the user selects a cash transfer on a menu as shown in the screen (a) ofFIG. 91 (step 901). If the cash transfer is selected, the portableterminal 830A displays the screen asking a secret number as shown in thescreen (b) of FIG. 91. When the user inputs a secret number, theportable terminal 830A checks if the secret number is correct (step902). If the secret number is correct, the portable terminal 830Adisplays the screen asking a transfer object as shown in the screen (c)of FIG. 91 and checks the selected transfer object (step 903). Here, theuser selects a POS as the transfer object. If the transfer object is aPOS, the portable terminal 830A displays asking a transfer moneytogether with an amount of current money as shown in the screen (d) ofFIG. 91. The user inputs the transfer money in the portable terminal830A (step 904). If the transfer money is input, the portable terminal830A displays the screen asking whether a money transfer is executed asshown in the screen (e) of FIG. 91 and checks if the money transfer isexecuted (step 905). If the user presses an execution button, theportable terminal 830A transmits an amount of electronic money toward anoptical receiver 862 connected to a credit card inquiry machine 860 in acorresponding business place and displays the in-transfer on the screenas sown in the screen (f) of FIG. 91. If the transmission is completed,the portable terminal 830A displays the transmitted money as sown in thescreen (f) of FIG. 91 and ascertains the transmitted money (step 906).If the user selects the cash confirmation, in order to ascertain thetransmitted money, an amount of remaining money after payment isdisplayed on the screen.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, an optical payment transceiver and an opticalsettlement system using the same according to the present inventionincorporates credit information in a portable terminal attached with anoptical transceiver and transmits the credit information in the form ofan infrared ray. Accordingly, a simple and safe transaction system canbe embodied. In the case of a large amount of credit transactionrequiring a secret number, a receiver receives a secret number and usesthe same. Accordingly, there is no risk of leaking personal paymentinformation. Also, since an optical receiver is attached to a creditinformation inquiry machine and credit information transmitted in theform of an infrared ray is transmitted to the inquiry machine, thecredit card need not be presented to a clerk when the credit cardtransaction can be done. Accordingly, the illegal use of the credit cardinformation can be prevented fundamentally. Also, a settlement can bedone at a location distant from a credit card inquiry machine via amovable relayer and a device. In the case of a vending machine whichcannot settle by a credit card in real-time, payment information isstored and collected at a predetermined point in time so as to beprocessed in package. Accordingly, it is possible to construct a credittransaction environment even in a field where a card has not been used.Thus, the present invention minimizes inconveniences where users carrycards or cash, and can prevent risks due to loss, theft and damage ofthe cards. Further, the present invention is applied to most fieldswhere financial transactions are performed as in a general commerce, adrive-thru ordering system, a restaurant, a gas station, a departmentstore, an electronic commerce, a vending machine, a subway or bus farelevying system, a toll gate fee collection system, a fee payment ofkiosks, and an electronic money, and provides conveniences to users tothereby expedite active transactions. Also, the present invention can beapplied to an entrance/exit security system requiring personalidentification as well as the financial transaction. In addition, asecret number and bio-identification data are combined when an in-personis identified in order to access payment information incorporated in aportable terminal. Thus, an access with respect to personal paymentinformation by an unauthorized person is prevented fundamentally, tothereby reinforce a security. Further, in a card transaction suspensionfield, a card reader downloads a blacklist from a card company inpackage and compares input credit information with the stored blacklist.If the input card information is blacklisted, an optical paymentoperation is not performed in a portable terminal. Accordingly, thepresent invention is faster in view of a blacklist processing speed, andcheaper in view of a system running cost. Moreover, a cost for issuingplastic cards continuously can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited in the above-described embodiments.It is apparent to one who is skilled in the art that there are manyvariations and modifications without departing off the spirit of thepresent invention and the scope of the appended claims.

1. A card issuance method comprising the steps of: receiving from acustomer an application for a card; selecting by the customer of adesignated portable terminal from a plurality of portable terminalsowned by the customer, to which upon approval of the application of thecharge number is to be sent; determining that the applicant is the ownerof the designated portable terminal; producing card informationincluding charge number and encrypting the produced card information;transferring the encrypted card information to the designated portableterminal; and storing the information in the portable terminal.
 2. Thecard issuance method of claim 1, wherein said step of producing cardinformation comprises the steps of: forming a set by producing a cardnumber and assigning an authentication number to the produced cardnumber; compressing the set according to a predetermined compressionalgorithm; and assigning a card identification (ID) for discriminatingthe kind of a card with the corresponding card information to thecompressed set.
 3. The card issuance method of claim 1, wherein saidstep of storing the card information includes storing the cardinformation in a memory device of the designated portable terminal. 4.The card issuance method of claim 1, wherein said step of transferringcard information is in a wireless WAP or SMS data communications format.5. The card issuance method of claim 1, wherein said step oftransferring card information to the portable terminal is by cableinterface.
 6. The card issuance method of claim 1, further comprisingthe step of transferring a blacklist information into a correspondingportable terminal if a transaction suspension of an issued card occurs,registering the blacklist, and suspending use of the charge number whichis stored in the portable terminal.
 7. The card issuance method of claim1 further comprises the step of displaying suspension of transaction ona designated data receiver if the transaction is disapproved andinforming a card owner that a suspension or loss has been processed. 8.The card issuance method of claim 1, further including notifying cardissuance to the designated portable terminal using wireless InternetProtocol communications or telephony communications.
 9. The cardissuance method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a message requestingidentification data of an authorized person is performed using wirelessInternet Protocol communications or telephony communications.
 10. A cardissuance method, comprising: receiving at a card issuer a card issuanceapplication filled in by a customer; selecting by the customer of adesignated handheld phone number to which upon approval of theapplication a charge number is sent; receiving at the card issuer thedesignated phone number; determining that the applicant is the owner ofthe designated phone number; producing the charge number by the cardissuer; transmitting the charge number to the customer handheld phonehaving the designated phone number; and storing the charge number in thehandheld phone having the designated phone number.
 11. The methodaccording to claim 10, wherein a financial transaction includeswirelessly transmitting the charge number from the handheld phone to acard receiving device.
 12. The method according to claim 10, whereinsaid transmitting the charge number to the handheld phone is via atelephony communications network.
 13. The method according to claim 10,wherein the step of determining whether the customer is the owner of thedesignated phone number is by communication with the customer'stelephone service provider.